


It Takes Two

by inheritanceofgeek



Series: Reconciliation [7]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Birds of Prey (Comic), Catwoman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Arguing, Ballroom Dancing, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Case Fic, Crime Fighting, Damian Wayne Being Damian Wayne, Dead Robins Club, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Light Angst, Minor Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Organized Crime, Pre-New 52, Sexual Content, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:53:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 66,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inheritanceofgeek/pseuds/inheritanceofgeek
Summary: Stephanie and Tim have been back together for eight months, and everything seems to be going wonderfully! They're young and in love, and couldn't be happier. Yet the pain of the past is still taking its toll, and if they don't deal with it soon it might just destroy their future.Meanwhile, all across Gotham Homeless kids are going missing, and there's a new designer drug hitting the market that the Crime Families of Gotham seem particularly interested in. It's a case designed for Batgirl and Red Robin, but they'll need to be working in perfect unison if they want to save the day.Part of the "Reconciliation" universe but you should be fine without having read the rest of the series.





	1. Too Much Information

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for a little while, and I think now is the right time to set it loose onto the world! It's the first Long Fic I've written in a while, so please be gentle with me ^^; 
> 
> My absolute love and thanks go to my beautiful beta MagicMarker, who hasn't read a single BatFam comic but still agreed to help! This fic, and all my fic, would be nothing without her support and advice <3 
> 
> Updates will hopefully happen every Monday =)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Destiny said it, you got to get up and get it  
> Get mad independent and don't you ever forget it  
> Got some dirt on your shoulder, then let me brush it off for ya"  
> \- _That's my girl _Fifth Harmony__

It had been 6 years since Steph had first put on the Spoiler hood as a means to stop her useless father from committing any more crimes, though it felt more like twenty. It had started out as just a means of revenge, but it had so quickly evolved into something more meaningful. She found a way to really make something of her life, a way for it to have the kind of meaning usually not meant for Gotham kids. She’d suffered a lot in the past, made mistake after mistake, but she’d finally come into her own! Her successes more than outweighed her losses at this point, and she’d even go ahead and say she was happy! She was doing well at college, she had a good relationship with her mother, she had a boyfriend who loved her and she was also mother fucking _Batgirl_.

She had a family again. People she could turn to for advice and support, who really understood what she was going through because they’d all been there before! Sometimes it was still a little hard to come out with though, and you needed just a tad of subterfuge to get your foot in the door. Which was why Steph had sneaked into Bruce's study to steal some invites to the latest Wayne Gala before they got into the mail, so she could hand deliver them to Barbara's apartment herself. They didn't usually talk outside of office hours (both college and batgirl) but right now, she really needed some advice beyond the realm of crime fighting and computer science.

“Thanks for dropping it off Steph, but you know I _hate_ these Wayne Galas,” sighed Babs, throwing the invite to the side of her desk. “I understand that they’re important for raising money for charity and helping support the community etcetera etcetera, but they really are tiresome. Dad hates them as well, and he only ever has to deal with Polite Former-Playboy Billionaire Philanthropist Bruce Wayne, not Emotionally Stubborn And Suppressed Bruce Wayne. The former is much easier to deal with, but no less aggravating to be around. So tell him thanks, but no thanks.”

“You know there’s one inside for your Dad as well,” Steph said. “They all know you’re his designated Plus-One; Alfred said there was no point in dealing with any more paperwork when they can just send it to you directly.”

“God,” she groaned, “of _course_ Alfred would do that. Damn, if Dad has to go, then I have to go!”

“Things between you and Dick still that bad, huh?” asked Dinah, slouching against the desk as she ate her post-case Bat Burger. Steph hadn’t expected her to be here as well, given that it was Babs’ private apartment and not the clocktower. However the two of them were best friends, so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that they’d hang out outside of crime fighting. Her presence did throw her plan off course a little, but Steph was a famed improvisor. “I thought things between you were heating up again.” Dinah gently shoved her friend in encouragement, an action that, had Stephanie done it, would surely have ended in a broken wrist. As it was, Barbara gave out an uncharacteristic giggle and shoved Dinah back.

“Things with Dick are certainly back to being interesting, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend more time with Bruce than I have to. Urgh, and then there’s all the ‘well wishers’ telling me how _brave_ I am, and how I’m such an _inspiration_ , and that able-bodied crap. That, I can’t be dealing with.”

“You’ll get to see Dick in a suit though,” sang Dinah leaning in towards her. “Get a nice prime viewing of that ass in tight Armani.”

“Dinah, if I wanted to see Dick in a three-piece-suit, all I gotta do is ask. You know he eats out of my hand.”

“He eats out alright,” winked Dinah, sucking on her straw for far longer than necessary.

“That’s not an image I needed or wanted…” grimaced Steph, regarding the two older women warily. It wasn’t that she disliked Dinah; on the contrary, she had been the first person to give her some actual training! She’d never forget the way she’d kicked her father and the Riddler out of their house with a single screech! But she’d been hoping to keep her problems to as few people as possible… then again, maybe Dinah was just as well placed as Babs for when it came to advice-giving.

“Oh come on, Steph,” teased Dinah. “Babs gets Dick. That should not be something you’re afraid to talk about, trust me. Learning to tease your mentors about their sex lives is where the fun really comes in.” She pointed her drink at her as she tried to get her point across.

“That why you and Roy are so close these days? He’s in Gotham you know, I could easily call him over for Girls Night if you want to discuss this further,” said Steph, crossing her arms.

“Jokes on you, Batgirl. He’s got no time to find a sitter, and I’ll do anything to see my Granddaughter, even if that means Roy giving me blow-by-blow sex talk. Which he wouldn’t do in front of Lian anyway.” She took another triumphant slurp. Damn, this woman really was untouchable! “Speaking of blow-by-blows,” she continued, looking at Stephanie with dangerous eyes, “how are things going with you and Red Robin?”

Stephanie really tried not to flush, she really did, she was twenty-one now for Christ’s sake! Babs shook her head, but didn’t look up from her work. “Be nice to the girl, Dinah, she’s not as corrupt as you and I.”

“Pity,” she shrugged, “but there’s still time yet. Stick with the us long enough, and we’ll see an end to that, don’t you worry.”

“I mean, I’m not a Nun you two! Hello? Teen pregnancy statistic here?” She pulled up her shirt and pointed at her scar, something she was doing more often as she discovered it was a good way of winning arguments. Although that might work better with robins than birds of prey. “I’m just, not as open to talking about my sex life as you two are. It’s-- it’s private. Between me and Tim. Nobody else needs any input on that. Nobody.”

“Is that why you came here Steph?” asked Babs, turning around to look at her properly. “You’re in need of some, eh, advice? I’m going to be honest here Steph, I’ve told you before, I’m really not the best person to ask on these things. Sex with me always gets a bit more, ah, complicated--”

“--And not just because she’s only slightly less emotionally unavailable than Batman,” said Dinah, cutting her off. Babs didn’t bother to comment and just rolled her eyes again before turning back to Stephanie.

“Look, I’m here for you, for all your Batgirl needs. I'll even go over those internship applications with you!” She paused, eyes narrowing. “You _have_ told them all about that, right?”

Steph actively avoided her stern gaze. “Erm, No? I've been a bit preoccupied?”

Babs’ sigh seemed to contain the weight of a thousand worlds. “I think that is what you should really be worrying about right now. But with regards to your current issue, shouldn't you be talking to someone your own age? There has to be someone you know who can help.”   

Steph let out a pathetic groan as she collapsed against the wall. “I really don't, though! M’Gann and Kara are both aliens with their own unique set of problems each. Beryl and Wendy are gay. Courtney doesn’t know Red Robin is Tim, and I don’t trust myself to not drop names when getting off topic! And I somehow don’t think Cass would appreciate me talking about sex when it’s with her _brother_.”

She looked quickly at Dinah, expecting another outburst of teasing now she’d finally admitted to the real reason she was here. But she was quiet, the look of gentle understanding on her face almost worse…

“Well, what about college? Haven’t you got any friends there? You’ve got that little study group, and the table tennis club. Can’t you go to them?” Steph wasn’t sure what to make of the kindness in Barbara’s voice. Then again, hadn’t she been through some of the exact same things as the first Batgirl?

Steph traced patterns on the floor with her toe. “They're my friends yeah, but I already get teased enough by them for dating a Wayne. This is-- it's a lot! And I also don't want to have to explain my entire back story to them? If he were just some random person I’d met at a bar, then sure, but with Tim, it's-- it’s complicated. First we were Spoiler and Robin, then I was Robin, and now I'm Batgirl and he's become Red Robin and a CEO and-- There's so much history between us that’s just lead to these expectations that we're both constantly trying to back away from. That's why we were just going to take things easy but now…”

The older women shared a look between them, and seemed to have some kind of psychic conversation made up mostly of eye movements and hand gestures. Dinah sighed and guided her into the living room with an arm wrapped around her shoulder. “Let’s leave our Oracle to finish her work, and you can come and sit with Auntie Dinah and talk this through, okay? Whatever the problem is, trust me, I've probably been there myself.”

“You have?” asked Steph, a little uncertainty.

“Mmhmm. Ollie and me have been as on-again-off-again as Dick and Babs. Ollie might not have been my _first_ time having sex, not by a _long_ shot, but he was the first to buy shatter proof glass and ear plugs, so I didn't have to keep my jaw clamped shut the whole time.”

Steph's eyes bulged slightly. “Oh God, that's a thing with you?”

Dinah laughed. “Oh trust me, you don't know awkward until your Dad comes rushing home from work because the neighbours called the police, and finds you just standing on a chair in nothing but a T-Shirt trying to fix a crack in the ceiling. I told him I got carried away singing along to ACDC,” she mused. “He brought it, Mom did not. But I don't think she knew how to give me the ‘When you orgasm be sure to do it with your mouth shut’ talk anymore than I wanted to hear it. So, little birdy,” she said, patting Steph's knee, “what's your story?”

Steph fiddled with the arm of the couch as she tried to find the words to say all she needed to say. “So, it's not like Tim was my first time. My first time was just, really awful, didn't orgasm, didn't really like the guy. Tried it a second time with him, same results, got pregnant. Zero out of Ten, would not recommend. Then, after that I started dating Tim, and well,” she mimed her stomach getting bigger and bigger, “sex wasn't really on the table then either, and since my past experience was so awful, I didn't really fancy reliving it any time soon. Then, you know, we had our first break-up. Not pretty, not fun, especially when you're still recovering from major surgery. Don't date an alter-ego, it only ends badly.” Dinah just nodded in understanding, and let her continue.

“But when we got back together, we both knew each other inside out, I got to meet his parents, we were both still hero-ing and things were going well! So, we decide to have sex. Talk about it beforehand, make lists, do all that responsible adult stuff. It was,” she wobbled her head, considering her words, “ _alright_. Not mind blowing, but certainly an improvement. He was eager, if not skilled. We tried it a couple of times, nothing spectacular, but it was fun. Then I ended up dying, so that really put an end to everything.” Steph let out a deep sigh, thinking back to those three days of absolute hell and feeling all the guilt rise up inside of her again. Leslie had told her she needed to stop blaming herself for all that had happened, but it was still hard sometimes whenever the topic of the gang war was brought up. So many lives had been lost that week…

“And when you returned?” prompted Dinah, squeezing her hand “When he found out you'd survived, and made your way back to us, what happened then?”  

“Well, as you can guess things were really rough between us. Faking your death and running off to Africa isn’t exactly the nicest thing to do to someone.” Steph snorted.

“Well no,” conceded Dinah, “but it's pretty much standard in our line of work. I think we've spent a little time being legally dead, you just decided to turn it into a gap year." winked Dinah, and Steph felt all the anxiety that had built up inside of her slowly drift away. “So what happened next?”

“Well, I knew that I'd hurt him but we still had all this, like, raw energy between us that we didn’t know how to hide! So we went back to his place and had inadvisable thank-god-you're-alive sex which this time _was_ great! _Really_ great, yay for orgasms! But like I said, the whole thing was still totally inadvisable, since we properly broke up straight after because, you know, I did sort of betray him on a major level.”

“So, you're concerned about what sex with Tim is going to do to your relationship, when the only time it was genuinely good was when you broke up?” said Dinah carefully. “Honey, I don't think that needs to be a concern of yours. Break-up sex is a thing that a lot of people do! It's not always wise, but it's still a valid way of coping with the end of a relationship. But equally, you two having sex doesn't mean your relationship will end, it's just going to add another page to your story. And emotionally? Did the world change when you had sex the first time?”

“No,” reasoned Steph, “but it still wasn't very good. I just– I'm so happy finally taking it slow between us! We finally have room to breathe and not be constantly worried about everybody else's opinion whilst still trying to figure out who we both are as people! I feel like I'm finally dating _Tim_ and not _Robin_. Or rather, Red Robin, but it’s all the same tights. Just, with everything else going on, I just don't want to find another way to mess things up.”

“So if don't want to have sex with him, then don't,” shrugged Dinah. “If he puts pressure on you, then punch him in the face. Or call me and I'll do it.”

Steph heard Babs’ strangled snort from the other room that she played it off as a coughing fit.

“I appreciate it Dinah,” Steph smiled, “but I trust Tim to not be that asshole. He's a good guy! I mean, he's no Superman, sure, but who wants to date an Alien Boy Scout?”

“Lois Lane.”

“Lois Lane is an outlier and should not be counted. What I mean is, I just– like I _want_ to have sex with him! He's got like, a million abs and I wanna sit on his face and see what else that tongue can do because, like, seriously. I don't know where he got that good at kissing, but. Wow.”

“Really?” said Dinah, leaning back on the couch slightly and giving her a questioning look. “He's that good?”

“Yeah!” She nodded. “Like, from my experience, girls were always better kissers than boys? I just thought that was how it went, but Tim? Tim might be able to save it for his gender.”

“Well it's always the quiet ones, aye?” mused Dinah. “So, I'm still not sure what the problem is. It sounds like you're overthinking everything, or else you're using this to mask whatever the _real_ problem is. Why not just, carry around some condoms at all times, and be prepared for when opportunity strikes and you feel like you just _gotta_ bang. I know you're both trying to date without the masks on, but believe me, 'saved the day and we both lived’ sex is _fantastic_!”

“That _was_ my plan!” whined Steph. “Like, I even added them to the utility belt just in case! But now– right so, Tim invited me to that Wayne Gala coming up? The one Babs was talking about. And I'm going to be his, you know, _date_ . So we'll be _officially_ dating. No more online speculation, no more articles accusing him of cheating on Tamara, just 'Local Infant Billionaire CEO Dates Daughter Of Known Criminal’. Which I am _not_ looking forward to,” she sighed, running a hand down her face.

“Well, yeah, that has to suck, but you guys were always going to be in that spot. I was there with Ollie, Babs had the exact same thing with Dick, it’s just something you have to accept when dating rich kids. You’re going to be gossip, you just have to try and laugh about it.”

“I’m gonna be the woman who broke up TimTam!” she groaned in horror “I’m gonna be Angelina! God why am I only realising this _now_?” she ran her hands through her hair, messing it up even more.

“Because you had to realise it at some point,” shrugged Dinah, patting Steph’s knee. “Come on Batgirl, you’ve fought off worse than the press in your lifetime! Plus Bruce is pretty good at stopping them from posting anything too salacious. Look, Steph, this is clearly not about sex, you just haven't figured out what the real issue is, which is why it's _Tim_ you need to be talking about this to, not us!”

“Wait, will I need to dance?” She was spiralling now. “It’s a gala, he’s one of the hosts, do I have to dance? Last time I went to one he just stole me a dress to wear and then we beat up some thugs who were trying to kill Leslie. There was no dancing Dinah! None at all!”

“Well, yeah, there may be dancing but all you have to do is sway a little, imagine that it’s just junior prom and—”

“—I didn’t go to Prom! I was _pregnant and then I died_!” Steph’s hair was sticking up all over the place now, her eyes getting more and more frantic.

“Right, well,” Dinah tried to hide her smile. “Just take this as an opportunity to have that experience! Plus, no offence, but your boy doesn’t exactly look like much of a mover.”

“Kara broke her date’s toe. What if I break Tim’s?”

“Then it will be very on-brand for you.” said Dinah, placatingly.

“But if it’s prom then, don’t we have to have sex after? He invited me to stay over at the manor and that means he’ll want to share a bed, and that means sex.”

“Ahh, and full circle at last. Look, he’s just asking you to stay. You’ve stayed at the manor before, that place has a billion rooms. You won’t have to share if you don’t want to. If things go south, you can always hijack the Batmobile and high tail it out of there. So if you want to have sex, then go for it, and if you don't then don't! If the only thing you want to do is sleep in the same bed like an old married couple from the 40s, do just that. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself _and_ your relationship.”

“Yeah,” sighed Stephanie, leaning back against the couch now, sinking into it. “You’re right, I’m overthinking this again. It’s just a gala and then a sleepover. I bet Tim’s not putting as much thought into this!”

“Probably not,” said Dinah, who was getting really good at this whole not-laughing thing. “And hey, you know what this does mean? Dress shopping! And you can probably put it on the Batman Inc. card too, since it’s all for the Waynes.”

  
“Oooh!” Steph perked up “Now that _does_ sound like fun!”


	2. Two's Company, Four's an Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Father, father, unforgivable  
> This is my house, you made it personal  
> It's always trouble when they go too far  
> Nobody mention my familia" - _Familia _Niki Minaj, Anuel AA, feat. Bantu__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Came close to calling this: It Takes Two, Chapter Two: 2 Bat 2 Fam but decided against it in the end.

Tim was sitting in his office in the Wayne Enterprises building, trying to sort through the latest internship applications. He swore they started arriving earlier and earlier every year. Some of them hadn’t even finished their first semester yet! Jenny in Recruiting had already compiled a short list, but Tim liked to actually  _ know _ who he was hiring, and it was very easy for unintentional bias to creep into employment. They’d had too many white cis middle class men come in through the years, and as a white cis middle class man he had to make sure that he was doing all he could to avoid those types of people. 

For example, Harper Row had been missed from the original short list. She hadn't attended any of the better Gotham Schools, and was doing a Certificate Program at Gotham U  _ and _ working full time. Whilst Gotham U was technically associated with WE, it was still not really part of their usual hiring pool for these kind of internships.  _ But _ unlike their usual cohort, Harper had experience working with Gotham's power grid, and her application had included plans on how to make power more efficient within the working class areas of Gotham, namely the Narrows. There had been so many plans to redevelop the worst areas Gotham had to offer, but they'd all fallen through. But Harper's plan was firmly set within community involvement, and strengthening existing infrastructure rather than replacing it. It might actually work…

He placed her application firmly in his ‘yes’ pile and added a post-it note saying 'Yes! Hire This One!’ for good measure. If he was honest, her skill set probably meant she was better suited for an internship at S.T.A.R Labs, but she was the primary carer for her younger brother, who was still in school, so he guessed she would be unwilling to move. He gave her a cursory background check, just to make sure he wasn't hiring the next Jason Todd, but she mostly just posted pictures from various Pride events, and it seemed her most recent photos revealed a purple and blue mohawk. Oh he was  _ really _ looking forward to seeing her terrifying all the Prep-School Pricks in computer science; he’d have to set up a camera there to watch it all go down. He was surprised Steph hadn't submitted  _ her _ application yet, but there was still time. He shuffled through a few more candidates when he became aware of a slight breeze flickering through the room, and of a dark presence in the corner of his office. 

“What do you want, Brat?” he sighed, not looking up as Damian emerged from the shadows. 

“I’m here to talk to you about Stephanie.” He approached the desk in what he no doubt thought to be a menacing fashion. It perhaps would have been more effective had he not been forced to go up on tip-toe in order to loom. 

“What about her?” he frowned. “I thought you liked her. She’s the only one other than Dick whose  _ real _ name you use.” He pointed at him.

“Tt, that’s because ‘Brown’ is her father’s name, and I have enough respect for her to not tarnish her reputation by associating her with that pathetic excuse of a criminal.” He crossed his arms and glared at Tim, as if it was completely obvious. 

“Awwwh, she loves you too you, little tyke. Now leave me alone, I do actually have work to do.” 

“No.” Damian's knee was almost on top of the desk now as he tried harder to appear threatening but mostly just came across as a puppy trying to clamber onto the couch. “You need to listen to me, and listen well Drake, or else I shall have to resort to extreme measures.” 

Tim knew that Damian  _ could _ hurt him, and most likely  _ wanted  _ to, but he’d not dare do it in front of such a large crowd. He had a glass office for the sole purpose of letting everyone know he wasn’t an evil mastermind hell bent on destroying the world! But right now he was starting to regret that policy, given the number of onlookers they were attracting; he spied someone holding up a camera phone. He gave a sigh and clicked his remote to blacken the glass so as they could not be watched. Okay, so maybe there were times where you didn’t want your employees knowing what you were up to. 

“Right, what is it? Are you going to ask me ‘what my intentions are’ with Steph or something?” He laughed at the concept and then narrowed his eyes as Damian's only response was to get angrier. “Oh my god, you’re here to ask me what my intentions with Stephanie are, aren’t you?” 

“Father informed me that you have asked Stephanie to stay for the night after the Gala for the new Children’s Shelter. Richard has forced me to consume enough American media to know what  _ that _ means.” He glared at Tim, who was quite frankly still trying to comprehend what exactly was going on here. “Stephanie has been through enough in her life without you causing her more pains. Yet one of her most glaring failings as an individual is her attachment to you, and if I cannot change that, then I can certainly try to change you.” 

“Right, well that’s familiar territory at least,” muttered Tim, running a hand through his hair. “Look, I get that this is you showing that you care in-- in your own weird way. But, whatever happens between Steph and me is our business, not yours.” 

“Whatever happens under  _ my _ roof,  _ is _ my business.” snapped Damian, who was practically standing on the desk now, messing up all of Tim’s careful paper piles. (He’d gone to great lengths to digitise the company network, how was there still this much paper?)

“Woah there, it’s Bruce’s roof. Not--” 

“--I am the one set to inherit, so it  _ is _ my roof.” 

“Damian,” Tim sighed, trying hard to keep his cool with the kid. “For one, Dick is the first in line since Bruce officially adopted him years before you were born, and then it's Cass and then, oh yeah it's  _ me _ . So you can drop all this ‘rightful heir’ crap for once, okay?” 

Damian glared at him, muttering a threat under his breath that was probably something along the lines of ‘for now you weakling scumbag!’, but as always Tim just ignored him. These days he’d learnt the boy was more bark than bite, and it usually hid some element of actual affection. After all, the boy  _ was _ still learning how to show emotions in a healthy way. 

“But it’s like I said, Damian. Whatever happens with Stephanie and me is between us. However, I assure you that all my ‘intentions’ are noble.” He filled the word with sarcasm that seemed to go over the boy’s head, but then again he was a four foot nothing demon brat, so it really should have been expected.

Damian nodded, climbing down from the desk at last. “I shall inform Pennyworth that he will need to prepare a room for her then. At the opposite end from your own, of course. If your intentions truly are  _ honourable _ .” 

Wait… what? Oh--  _ oh _ ! Well, that made more sense at least. Damian knew Steph’s past history, and probably didn’t want a repeat of that. He’d not considered that they’d-- that she’d-- they hadn’t really talked about it. He’d just extended the invitation with the idea of spending more time together, and because he knew these things would always go on for far too long and she probably wouldn’t want to have to travel across town at that time of night, batgirl or otherwise. He’d not really thought of anything beyond that. It wasn’t as if they’d never had sex before, but it would be the first time after everything had happened, and Tim was really happy with how things were going between them! Would sex just complicate it more? 

He watched Damian exit the office and heard the general chorus of  _ oh hello Master Wayne how are you today _ from the rest of the staff who’d not yet realised how big of a pain in the ass his little brother was. Which, he was, and this was all probably just one of his schemes to get back at Tim for simply existing. He sat back in his chair and tried to focus on his work but mostly failed. He probably needed to talk to Stephanie about this before the Gala, but what if she’d been on the same page as him to begin with? Would him even mentioning sex make her think that that was all he was after? As soon as things were starting to look straightforward between them, something had to go wrong. It always seemed to be the same way with him. 

He needed to clear his mind, focus on something else for a little while. There was a drug deal going down tonight by the docks that he’d been monitoring for the past month which might do the trick. He’d gotten wind of a new narcotic being bought into town; reports were slightly contradictory as to what it was meant to do. Some said that it was a relaxant that made you bliss out into nothingness, whilst others said it put you on edge and heightened all your other senses. It seemed that whoever had invented it had sold it to two seperate families: The Yakuza and Cosa Nostra, cutting out the cartels completely. Which was strange, but not unheard of for higher-end product. 

However, a group of Free Men had gotten wind of what was going down, and last week had managed to get a hold of some of Cosa Nostra’s shipment without being noticed. Now they were after the Yakuza’s. Gotham could not take another street war; the existing peace between the families and the gangs was fragile enough. Tim needed to get his own sample of the drugs, whilst still trying to stop the Free Men from getting slaughtered. There was no way the Yakuza weren’t going to have put on extra protection for this following the attacks on Cosa Nostra. A good beat-em-and-rob-em would do wonders for clearing out his head! Some men did cardio, Tim did crime fighting. 

He left work earlier than usual, though that still meant being the last to leave, and made his way straight to his Robin’s Nest to change into his gear. He took a moment to devour an energy bar, and then made his way down to the docks.

He located a good hiding spot on the top of a shipping container, and perched there, waiting for the first sign of action. He needed to time his call to the police so they’d arrive in time to take them in before any more Yakuza could show up to join the fight. He only had a ten minute window with which to operate, but that should be more than enough. He was just going through a final check of his gear when there was a soft thud to his right. 

“What’s up, Bird Brain.”

“Hood?” Tim startled slightly, turning to see his brother sitting by his side, helmet on and gun drawn for action. It was still a little off-putting that he couldn’t see his face, though he supposed that was sort of the point. 

“Oh don’t look so scared, Replacement, I’m not just here for you. I’ve been tracking those Free Men for ages, they’re all in the middle of their senior initiation, and I gotta know what Franklin is planning for his next run. Their final test is due to start next week, and I’d rather know what it is they’re up to, make sure that it’s nothing that’s going risk the peace. Blackgaters don’t want anything to do with me, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about what's going on. Got to get info on all this before the cops get here. Thought if I lent a hand, you’d be done quicker and I’d be able to spend more time questioning him.” 

“You mean torturing,” said Tim dryly. 

“Oh like hanging guys upside down from gargoyles isn’t torture.” Tim could practically hear Jason rolling his eyes. “Don’t get your tights in a twist, I haven’t killed anyone since arriving back in Gotham.” 

“Oh, so you’ve not put any heads in duffel bags lately, that’s nice! Well done you.” 

“Well, not any that I  _ personally _ killed at least.” said Jason, his face still trained on the van that was just pulling up now. “Relax!” he sighed as Tim stiffened and opened is mouth to argue back. “It was a joke, god! You guys really can’t take a joke, can you?” 

“Murder isn’t funny, Hood. But it would be nice to have the help.” he admitted. He also couldn’t help but enjoy spending time with his brother. Jason had been his inspiration to become Robin in the first place, even if it was under tragic circumstances. Sure they’d never truly see eye-to-eye, but they both knew what it was like to always be compared to someone else, and never truly feel like you were allowed to belong. Jason had taken that feeling and made an identity out of it, wielding the hurt and pain it caused as if it were a mace, heavy and unpredictable. Meanwhile Tim was only just now starting to realise that he had more to offer the world by simply being true to himself, and not what everyone else thought he  _ ought _ to be. 

“Spoke to Alfie earlier,” said Jason at last, “heard that things are going well with you and Steph. Heard she’s going to be your date for the gala.” 

“It seems we’re the gossip of the household,” muttered Tim. “You’re not going to tell me I need to ensure that my intentions with Stephanie are all above board are you?” 

Jason huffed out a snort of laughter. “No.” 

“Good, because I’ve had enough of that with the Demon.” 

“But you know if you do hurt her, I’m still going to kill you, rules or no rules. And if you use this gala to put any pressure on her…”

“Oh my God! Why do you all have to paint me out like I'm a monster!” Tim nearly shrieked but managed to keep his voice down at the last second. “Why are you all giving me this talk? Why are you suddenly being all protective of Steph? She’s her own woman, she can take care of herself.” 

“Yeah, she can. I know that, I know full well she’ll clobber you in the face if you ever try anything, but she’s still a Robin, and I gotta look out for fellow Robins.”

“I’m a Robin.” grouched Tim, “ _ and _ I had the role for much longer than  _ both _ of you!” 

“Semantics.” Scoffed Jason “That doesn't matter anyway, because she’s a Dead Robin, and there’s a difference. But whatever, just don’t be an ass. She’s a good kid, she doesn’t deserve to be done wrong by. She’s had enough of that already. I know it’s complicated between you two, but it doesn’t have to be if you don’t let it.” 

“What are--  _ they’re moving in _ . It’s time, let’s go.” He clicked his bo staff open and leapt down from the container, quickly followed by Jason who was already firing at the two holding onto the main stash. 

“You have bought condoms already, right?” 

“ _ HOOD!  _ Not the time!” yelled Tim, hitting a goon over the head and kicking the other in the stomach, sending him falling to the ground.

“Fine,” Jason sighed, casually shooting a guy in the crotch as he tried to stand back up. “I’ll grab you some on the way home. You’re  _ welcome. _ ” 


	3. Twice the Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Always should be someone you really love.” - _Girls and Boys _Blur__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where I earn that M rating.

Tim couldn't believe that Jason had actually got him condoms. They were already sitting on his bedside table when he'd got back to his safe house, with a note scribbled on the back of the receipt saying: “Remember - No Love without Glove. RH XOXO”

How Jason had gotten back to his apartment before him was a mystery. After they’d gotten everyone zip tied and ready for GCPD, Jason had said good night and dragged one off “for a nice cozy little chat”. Tim tried not to think about what else he’d be doing to him. He wasn’t entirely okay with _Batman’s_ torture techniques, he dreaded to think what Jason’s might involve. Tim stayed only to grab his own sample of the product and wait for the police to show up. He could tell none of the men knew what they were bringing into the city, only that it would make them some decent money. So how, in that time, Jason had managed to get everything he needed out of Franklin, get changed into something less covered in blood, get to the shops and then get into Tim’s apartment… he checked the receipt quickly. The time stated was before they’d met up at the docks. It looked like Jason had dropped them off early in the evening.  

That was it, he was revoking Jason's entry privileges. He'd only granted him them because he didn't want him bleeding out on the side of the road. His apartment was in the middle of the city and nearer to the busiest danger zones. Which was also the reason it had been so cheap. He still mostly stayed at the manor, but sometimes he just needed a place to crash closer to the action. He didn't mind Jason using the place… but if he was just gonna break in for-- for this stuff, well. Privileges revoked!

He shoved the box into the drawer and tried not to think about them as he got changed for bed. But it was like trying to not think about an elephant, they kept cropping up in the back of his mind. He lay down and turned his back to the offending drawer. Jason had _no right_ to get involved like this! This was between Stephanie and him. Maybe she didn't even want to use condoms! If she was on the pill or had the implant. No, that was bull, they were both too sensible to just rely on one form of contraception. His stomach churned at the idea of getting Stephanie pregnant again, this time with _him_ responsible. She was finally getting her life on track after so long! He couldn't bear it if he were responsible for taking that away from her. Okay, so, it probably _was_ sensible to have a pack on hand. Just in case.

He was still revoking Jason's privileges.

He tried to relax back into his pillows and calm down a bit. But his brain wasn't settling down, still buzzing from all that had happened. He was half expecting Dick to burst in through the window and give him yet another talk about the joys of oral. That had been a conversation he'd desperately tried to delete from his brain, even if it had been… educational. Tim opened an eye and stared at the window for a good ten seconds, because it was apparently one of those days...

Nothing. Thank _God!_

He drummed his fingers against the bed sheets. It had been a little while since he'd had the need for any… he wasn't that experienced, and when he'd been with Kon well… well it had been _Kon_ wearing them. He blushed a bit at the memory, trying to stuff it to the back of his mind. Of strong arms pinning him down, that caramel voice whispering in his ear as he gently pushed inside him.

Oh God, what was he _doing_? He was with Stephanie now! He should not be thinking about his ex. He should be focused on her. On their time way back when, when it had been just them in his parent's empty house, her mouth hot against his as she greedily used him for her own ends.

The two memories swam into his head, until they were overlapping. Kon kissing him as Steph rode him for all she was worth. His own hand reached down now, almost unbidden. He tried to keep quiet, almost ashamed of what he was doing which was ridiculous. He was nearly twenty! This was perfectly normal. He could hear Stephanie's giggle as she told him that, and he let out a little whine, bucking harder into his hand. He didn't want to get the sheets messy, he didn't have a change of pants with him, but now he's started the thought of stopping was too painful to truly think of. His eyes fell again upon that beside table… cursing he reached for it, tearing open the box and thumbling with the packet. Why did they have to be so hard to get out? And when did he get so clumsy? He focused on his breathing and tried to remember that cucumber based health class he'd nearly skipped in favour of furthering his investigation into the Snappy The Crocodile Incident. His fourteen year-old-self couldn't really invision a near future where that sort of information would be useful, well… how times had changed! He let his hand do as it pleased, whilst his brain wandered merrily down memory lane.

The Alps, how soft Stephanie had felt in that brief touch beneath the robe… of what it might have been like if they'd not pulled apart… _god_ what it would be like if she was here now. If it was _her_ panting and moaning filling his ears as well as his own. Maybe she'd pleasure herself at the same time, would she give him that much needed release, or make him wait? He'd do whatever she'd say, even if it meant not getting what he wanted. Even if she'd stood up and left the room, he'd still follow her instructions. He'd not allow himself _any_ form release without her say so.

But she wasn't cruel. She'd let him, whispering into his ear that he could finally let go. He did so with her name on his lips, falling back against the bed sheets. He was slick with sweat, but the condom had seen to the rest. He lay panting for a minute before dealing with it, trying hard to tie it into a knot. Honestly, he could dismantle a gun blindfolded with no issue, but apparently tying a condom was difficult?

He really needed to sort himself out. This was getting ridiculous. He bet Steph wasn't behaving like this.

-*-

Steph flopped back down head first on the bed, her vibrator still in one hand. She'd been right to put a towel down. The first few times it had been really awkward when her Mum had found the damp sheets… but it wasn't her fault she was a gusher! She hadn't even been the one to purchase the vibrator, it had been a gift from Kara of all people. She'd apparently helped save a sex shop from a robber, and the owner had offered her anything she wanted as a reward.

“I saw it on the shelf, and it was purple! So I thought of you.” She'd grinned, presenting it to her like it was a bar of chocolate she'd just picked up on a whim. Steph had a lot of questions of what life on Krypton was like for a thirteen year-old… but Kara had still spent most of her teen years on earth with Mr. Kansas 1956 as her cousin. How had she not developed a sense of shame in these things? But, then again, there really was nothing to be ashamed of.

She rolled off the bed and headed to the bathroom to sort herself out and chuck the towel in the laundry basket. It was a pretty good vibrator, she had to admit. It had a wide range of settings, and could even be used in the bath. Usually she didn't need to focus on anything other than the feel of it against her skin, but lately her mind had been wandering back to the Alps. What might have happened had she not freaked out in the middle of their make out. The feel of Tim's hand against her waist, his weight on top of her as they kissed. 

She washed her hands and wiped down the vibe before starting on the rest of her bedtime regime. It had been a busy night, but nothing too strenuous. Apparently the Free Men were in the middle of initiations, and most of those involved low level crimes. Bank robberies, hold ups, muggings, stuff that she'd have been confident to deal with even in her Spoiler days. Now it was just _easy_ , almost _boring_ . Which usually meant something big was coming her way. She still had those missing kids to look out for. Someone had been plucking them off the street since February, but there’d been no new leads in almost two weeks.There were a few suggestions that they were being sent on to New York, but nothing that they could really go on. All she really knew was that they were all runaways, and the only people who reported them missing were _other_ runaways. They were the kind that got lost in the system, because it didn’t matter how much money the Waynes poured into it, some stains you just couldn’t get rid of. The police weren’t taking them seriously, but being Batgirl was about listening to those who asked for help, _especially_ when no one else would.

She brushed her teeth thoughtfully, looking into the mirror. There were some big things coming up in her personal life as well. She had her final semester exams coming up soon, and then after that would be her year long work placement, where she would intern at a company for a bit as part of an additional certificate programme. If she managed to find an internship, that was. Barbara had confidence in her abilities though, and Tim was nothing if not encouraging. You didn't _need_ a placement year in order to graduate, you could just go from second year to third year, but you stood a better chance of getting a job afterwards if you took the placement option. She thought guiltily of the half-finished application forms sitting on her hard drive. She needed to get on that. Then there was the Gala, which was only a week away now. She was going dress shopping with Dinah tomorrow, and she'd already checked with Bruce that she was good to use the Batman Inc. card, since there was no way she could afford a new dress on a student budget. She could practically hear his disapproving scowl over the phone. Apparently it was _not_ okay to use the card whilst out of costume, no matter what Black Canary might say. However, since it was for a Wayne event, he was happy to transfer her the money for anything that she might require.

It had been… a lot. Like, more than she really knew what to do with. She knew that Bruce Wayne was absolutely loaded, and rich people didn’t have a great concept of how much things cost, but it was still _a lot_ . But then, the last time she'd worn a fancy dress it had been stolen for her by Tim, and the time before _that_ it had come from ASOS. Which was fancy as far as she was concerned! But probably not up to scratch for the sort of people the Waynes hung out with. God, they were just going to eat her alive, weren’t they?

This Gala was clearly proving to be more trouble than it was worth. She spat into the sink, and glared at her reflection. “You really have to learn to fall for more sensible men, Stephanie Amethyst Brown.”

Not that she had any intentions of ever falling for another guy. _Urgh_ , she should not be talking like that. She was twenty-one! No sensible person settled down that early, although-- although sensible people didn't dress up as a bat and go hunting criminals at night. So who was _she_ to judge?

She groaned as she trudged back to her room. Was she really contemplating 'settling down’ with Tim now? Talk about dangerous behaviour! She was contemplating marriage, yet she was still in a panic over having sex? She really needed to sort out her priorities. Maybe Dinah was right, maybe there was more to all this than she realised. She did still need to submit her internship applications, after all. The deadline for Queen Consolidated was fast approaching, as was the one for Wayne Enterprises. Not that that one mattered of course. She hadn’t even bothered to download the application and waste harddrive space on something she'd never use. She wasn't sure how she was going to go about explaining _that_ one to Tim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apparently "Placement Years" aren't a thing in America. But if they are here! If you're doing anything engineering adjacent, you'll probably be required to do it. Computer Science being one of those. 
> 
> And since I, a British Person, am forced to use words like "pants" instead of "trousers" and spell "Mum" incorrectly, I think I can be forgiven of this small Plot Point ;)


	4. Duel Identities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So let the sun come streaming in   
> ‘Cause you'll reach up and you'll rise again  
> Lift you head and look around  
> You will be found” - _You Will Be Found _From ‘Dear Evan Hansen’__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Throws glitter in the air* Welcome to an inheritanceofgeek fic, where nobody is straight and the canon don’t matter.

They'd made a steadfast rule early on in their relationship that Stake Outs and Team Ups did  _ not _ count as dates. They even had a limit on kissing in costume: goodbye kisses were fine, as was a brief hello, but nothing more than that. Tim and Stephanie were dating,  _ not _ Red Robin and Batgirl. On the whole, they mostly tried to avoid one another when on patrol; the city was big enough and busy enough to allow it. But sometimes a particular case just warranted them working together, and refusing to do so just because they were a couple just felt plain ridiculous. Catwoman and Batman were always teaming up, after all, and at least Steph's suit didn't have a front zipper. 

So that's how they spent their Tuesday night. They’d compared notes in the cave earlier, hoping that a fresh pair of eyes might find something new, and discovered a common thread. The product Red Robin was monitoring was being packed off with Batgirl’s missing kids. The tracker Tim had placed on one of the Yakuza transport vans was headed east to New York, where Steph suspected the kids were all being sent, though they’d not yet found any evidence to support nor deny that that was the case. When they’d cross-referenced Tim’s drug drop-offs with last sightings of Steph’s runaways, there was a clear correlation. They were mostly being taken from Yakuza and Cosa Nostra territories, with a few from the newly resurrected Calbarese. It didn’t surprise them that the Calbarese were teaming up with Cosa Nostra since as a new contender, they were better off forming alliances early on. Especially if it meant getting a share in some of the profits from the deal. They didn’t have a lot of information on who the new boss was, but reports said she was a Lioness armed with her own whip, ready to strike back at anyone who dared try to tame her. Though, unlike most newly-named mob bosses, she’d yet to spill a drop of blood. They’d look into all that later though, for now there were more pressing concerns. The innocents came first, and right now, it was the most vulnerable who were suffering. 

Following a quick check in with Jason on his own gang intel, they’d been able to track down the warehouse where the Yakuza men had been sighted picking up product. So that’s where they sat now, waiting for someone, or something, to show up and hope it led to saving some lives. There was an awkwardness to the air that had not been between them since they’d gotten back together. It unnerved Steph. She kept getting flashbacks to their first case together after she’d come back following her c-section. Completely trusting of one another, but still nervous of all the unsaid things swimming around them. Tim clearly had something to say, and so did Steph, but it was like they were both still waiting for the right moment. Which might never come. Steph sighed and slumped back down on the floor. Her legs were going to completely cramp up if she kept that pose for much longer. 

“So, the Gala is on Friday,” she began conversationally. Tim just nodded in response. “I bought my dress today, no spoilers, but I think you're going to love it.” 

“Ah, come on Batgirl, you know how much I love spoilers.” He turned sideways to grin at her, somehow still keeping his focus on the entry points to the warehouse. 

“Ooooh! Someone's been taking lessons at the Nightwing School of Comedy!” She laughed. “How long have you been sitting on that one for?” 

“Just tell me about the dress.” He grumbled, clearly embarrassed at being called out. Yeah, he'd definitely thought that one up in advance. 

“Well, it's purple, I'll tell you that one for free, so if you don't like the colour, I think we may need to split up for good this time.”

“If I didn't like purple, I would have gone into anaphylactic shock the first time I'd entered your room.” He shot back, and, okay, that was funnier than his last joke, and it was a relief to feel themselves falling back into their usual banter. Though Steph did feel like pointing out, that once you’d picked a favourite colour it was just  _ easier _ to keep buying things in that colour to cut down on decision making… 

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I've sent someone into shock with too much purple.” She shrugged, crossing her arms on the building ledge and peering out over it. Still no sign of the cars. 

“What do you mean?” he frowned 

“Oh, I used to-- back with Leslie, this girl who was volunteering with us, Kristina. She was  _ super _ cute, and we were already sharing a tent together, because you know, girls  _ never _ make out with each other that's absurd! Anyway, she was also  _ super _ allergic to citrus. But I didn't realise that, and they had these like, purple candies? And I was always snacking on them and she kissed me after I'd eaten nearly a whole packet of them, and just immediately started choking. I thought I'd become the angel of death for a second, until I checked the packet and realised they all used lemon juice as a flavouring.” 

Tim looked away from the site and stared at her, trying to figure things out in his brain. “That's-- that's the kind of story that could really only happen to you. Was she alright?” 

“Oh yeah, she had an epipen on her. She thought it was funny, I was horrified at what I'd done but it sort of ruined the moment. Then she went back home to Germany, so who knows where she is now?”

“Probably telling the exact same story you are.” 

“Hope not, it's like, four am over there.” 

“You know what I mean.” He shoved her playfully. “You are a very hard person to forget about, Batgirl. So, were there any other people out there who, you know…” 

“If you mean, who I nearly killed, then no, thank  _ God _ . If you mean made out with, well.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I was trying to get back to some sort of normal. Kissing cute girls felt a part of that, but there was nobody serious. Nobody I'd really care to meet up with again. It took some time though,” she added quickly. “It wasn't as though I got off the plane and was like 'okay time to go exercising my basic human right to kiss whoever I wanna kiss!’ It took while. You're not an easy one to get over, Boy Wonder. I should know, I've tried and so far it has been really,  _ quite _ unsuccessful.” 

She could see his blush in the moonlight and it was very, very endearing. However that wasn't exactly what she had wanted to talk about. Oh well, she might as well just come out and say it, “Look, I know we said no relationship stuff whilst on duty, but I have to-- about staying the night--” 

“--I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything when I asked you!” said Tim in a big rush. She couldn't see his eyes under the cowl, but she could tell his panic was the same, if not greater, than hers. “All I meant, was that, it's likely to be a long night and I didn't want you to have to go all the way back home. I thought maybe we could have breakfast together in the morning, or cuddle on the couch for a bit, but I didn't mean to imply-- not that I wouldn't  _ want _ to! I just, err-- I didn't-- didn't really think about any of-- that.” 

Stephanie sighed out in relief. “So you're happy with where we are? Just, taking it easy?”

“As easy as it's ever going to be with you and me.” He grinned, and she could see the way his eyes crinkled behind his mask. 

“Okay. I just wanted to check, because... sex with you would be, you know. Lots of fun! I would be interested in… having sex. But I don't really-- I just didn't really want to-- to feel like that was the whole point of the night? I don't want to put pressure on ourselves. I think we've done far too much of that in the--  _ shit they're here _ !” 

And just like that two cars pulled up and dragged four kids out of them, two girls and two boys. They were tied at the hands, but they weren't gagged and they didn't seem to be too badly injured. They were all absolutely terrified though, and rightly so. 

She nodded to Red Robin and they dropped down from their vantage point and swiftly made their way over to the side entrance they'd established from before. Heat goggles revealed that there was only one guard on the door, and he was quickly dealt with by a blow to the back of the head. He fell unconscious with barely a gulp, and Red Robin helped Batgirl gently lower him to the floor so they wouldn't cause any more noise than was necessary. The pair flitted through the corridors until they came to the main warehouse floor, where the kids were being gathered in lines, eight girls and eight boys. There were not that many guards in the room, but the ones there were armed to the teeth, and they didn't seem like the kind you just pulled in off the streets. These guys would be a little harder to take down, once they'd lost the element of surprise. But then again, Batgirl and Red Robin had been in much tougher spots than this.

There was someone in a white lab coat clearly trying to convince themselves that they were doing whatever they were doing for the greater good of science. Or perhaps they were crazy enough to think kidnapping kids  _ was _ the best way to achieve their warped goals? Regardless, she was preparing syringes, filling them with liquid from two different bottles. They shared a look, it was now or never it seemed. 

Red Robin opened the door a crack and slid two smoke bombs inside that went off as soon as they hit the guard’s foot. There was enough distraction that they could slip in and start trying to get the kids to safety. Batgirl threw a batarang at the scientist, clogging her up in thick gloop that she couldn't escape from. 

“Batgirl! Behind you!” yelled Red Robin, but she didn't need the help, already ducking low to avoid the blow.

“The bigger they are,” she sang, dropping to the floor and swinging her leg out to catch the guy in the knees, “the harder they fall!”

She turned around, the smoke was disappearing now, giving the goons a better look at what was going on. Red Robin seemed to be doing fine by himself, but one of the guards was backing the kids into a corner at gunpoint.

“Get back in the van kiddies, and don't you fucking dare try to--” 

“Hey! Don't you dare use that kind of language in front of kids you piece of shit!” Steph cried, grabbing him from behind. She twisted his arm up into the air as he turned to fire, the bullets disappearing into the ceiling. He pushed her back up against the wall, shoving her hard enough to make the thin metal quake ominously. 

“Keep back Blondie, don't make me take you as well. You wouldn't like what the boss has planned for the rejects.” He snarled, slamming her head back against the wall, making her grunt as all the air was knocked out of her.

“Blondie?” She grunted, struggling to get free of his grasp. “Is that all you've got? See that's the problem with people like you,” she cried, reaching for her belt and pulling out a batarang. She dropped to the floor, ducked underneath his knees, and skidded a good couple of feet away before chucking the batarang at him. “No imagination.” 

His body was engulfed in frozen gloop, completely cut off from talking anymore. She gently tapped on his face. “There you go, take some time to cool off.”

She turned back to the kids, who seemed to range in age from twelve to sixteen. She spared a look over at Red Robin, who was currently so focused on one of the more skilled fighters that he didn't seem to be aware of the one coming up from behind him. She instinctively reached for her belt, and chucked her batarang without even having to look properly. It hit the guy square in the jaw, and he fell to the ground twitching as an electric charge ran through him.

“I knew he was coming,” Red Robin called back in response, slamming the guy in front with the tip of his staff and sending his own electric shock through him. 

“The words you're looking for are, ‘Thank-you Batgirl!’ Right,” she said turning back to the kids, “I know this isn't going to sound like a good idea, but it's probably best if you do actually get back of the van. It's the best place to keep you safe. Alright?”

They all nodded, too scared to talk it seemed, and together they made a run for the vans that had bought them there. Two guards stood beside them, but they too were quickly dealt with; GCPD would need to bring their hairdryer with them tonight! The driver tried to make a grab for her, but she slammed his head against the dashboard and unceremoniously chucked him out the door. She then shepherded all the kids inside the van, and readied to set off.  

“How you doing in there Red Robin?” she called over the radio. 

“Yeah, almost cleared up in here, you got the kids?” 

“Safe and sound in the van, ready to be driven to GCPD.” 

“Alright, go quick, their safety is top priority.” 

“No duh.” She said, rolling her eyes. She looked at the kids, all sixteen cramped nervously in the back. God they were young. 

“Are you taking us to the police?” asked one of them nervously. 

“Yeah sweetheart, don't worry, everything's going to be--”

“--Please don't!” cried one of the older ones. “If I go there, they'll call my parents and I'll have to go back to them. Please don't make me go back there!” the girl pleaded, and wow if Stephanie didn't know that feeling all too well. It was the same panicked fear she still had to relive in her dreams some nights. Where he'd trap her in the cupboard again and there was nobody left to come rescue her. 

“You have to though, honey, you have to give them a statement so they can actually arrest the guys who did this to you. And we may need to run tests to see if they've slipped you anything dangerous.” 

“Please,” the girl begged, and was joined in by a few others. Steph sighed, and brought up her comline again. 

“You hearing this, O?” 

“Yes Batgirl,” came Oracle's voice, laced with concern. “You can't force them to go to the police, but it's probably still their best bet.” 

“Isn’t there a shelter they can at least go to first! There's  _ has _ to be a Wayne one around that's still got space.” She stared back at the frightened kids. It really had to have been bad at home if this was seen as a better alternative. 

“There's one about ten blocks from where you are, but they'll still need to--” 

“-- can you whip them up some fake IDs or something? Nothing fancy, just enough to fool the GCPD computers? You can see them through my camera lens, right?” 

“Yes,” sighed Oracle. “I can see the sad, puppy-eyed kids. Alright, take them to the Shelter. I'll 'whip up some fake IDs,’” Steph could hear the air quotes, “and then send you the information.”

“You're the  _ best, _ O!” 

“Yeah, I know. I’ll message you when I'm done. You need me to direct you to the shelter, or can I just send a map to your cowl?” 

“The Bat-Nav is fine,” she grinned, giving the kids a thumbs up and signalling for them to shuffle further up together for safety. There didn't seem to be a key, but since when had that ever been a problem for a Bat? Heck, for any True Gotham Kid? Learning to jack a car was right up there with learning how to jump rope. This one was a little more complicated than your average transit, but it only took her an extra second to get it going and she was high-tailing it out of there. 

“Red Robin, you alright back there?” she spoke into her Com, just as the Liam Neeson's voice told her to take a left turn. (Liam Neeson was the perfect voice for the Bat-Nav, since it too had the right set of skills to find her, wherever she was, and bring her home). “Red Robin? Did you get that? Report!” She felt her heart skip a little; was this how Babs had felt working with Dick in the field? 

“I'm here Batgirl, I'm just collecting samples and then I'll meet you back at HQ. You're at the precinct by now I assume?”

“Errr… funny story that,” she said, driving straight past GCPD. There was complete silence on the other end. She could tell Red Robin was trying to gather himself. 

“Batgirl, what have you done now?” 

“Just, taking a quick detour beforehand! Okay, turn coming up, gotta go byyyye!” she sang, switching back to just her private channel with Oracle. 

“He's not going to be happy about that you know,” came her voice. Of course she'd been listening in. Oracle was always listening, that was her whole thing. 

“Yes well, we can fight about it later. You got those IDs ready?”

“Do you really need to ask me that? I've already sent the names and ages to your gear, and alerted the shelter to a drop off.” 

“Love you O!” she cooed, pulling up outside the children's shelter. 

“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “Now I've got incoming from Nightwing, you're comfortable to handle it from here?” 

“Yeah, no worries. You go enjoy your hot date!”

She could hear Oracle sigh as she ended the call. She didn't sound completely annoyed though. In fact, Steph would even go as far as to say it was affectionate. Maybe things really were back to normal with her and Dick?

She gave the kids a quick briefing of what was going on, and they were then shuffled into the shelter where the workers gave them blankets, warm food and a bit of privacy so Steph could talk to them. The youngest of them had just turned twelve, the oldest a few days shy of her seventeenth. Some birthday surprise this was. 

All the kids were remaining very quiet about their ordeal, though they had picked up a bit when the care worker bought them all hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. The Wayne Foundation really had done wonders for the place. Marshmallows in hot chocolate might not seem like a lot, but it meant the absolute world to a kid who'd been through some of the worst Gotham had to offer. Stephanie decided to take the eldest girl off to the side for questioning, since she seemed to have become the de facto leader of the group. GCPD would be coming around soon enough, but she'd rather get all the pieces of the puzzle now, instead of going through the various butchered evidence reports from sickly sweet social workers who hadn't the first idea what it was like to grow up a Gotham Street Kid. 

“Sara, you don't have to tell me anything, but it would really help me if you would answer a few of my questions. You can leave stuff out if you want, but please don't lie.”

Sara nodded, focusing on her drink. “You rescued us. Made it so they thought my parents are dead, not-- not just…” she tailed off, her grip becoming tighter. Not just abusive? Not just belonging in a prison cell? Not just the absolute worst examples of humanity imaginable? “So, yeah” continued Sara, looking up at last. “I'll tell you everything you need to know. Just, don't make me go back there.” 

“I have pull with the Wayne Foundation, you can stay here as long as you need,” said Steph, putting her hand on Sara's knee. “So please, just start from the beginning. Where did they take you from?”

“There's a sort of, pop-up shelter north from here on Valentine. The proper ones like these are usually full at night, but the Calabrese have started to fund a couple in their zone? The new boss, I've heard good things about her. She's not like the others, she actually  _ cares _ about people. About kids. Doesn't like us being on the street, so we can go into the dens and ask for refuge for the night. It's usually pretty great, but I guess just with any of the other gangs there's gonna be problems…” she sighed, shaking her head mournfully. “I was so fucking stupid. I shouldn't have started talking to the guy to  _ begin _ with. He wasn't wearing Calabrese colours, didn't have the little cat badge either, but he was in the den so I just-- I assumed he was one of them!” 

“You're not stupid, Sara. We all make mistakes, trust me, at this point I'm probably just eight mistakes standing on top of one another inside a bat costume.” Sara let out a small laugh, looking back up at Steph, at  _ Batgirl _ , with hopeful eyes. “So trust me when I say, none of this is your fault. None at all, you understand me?”

She could tell Sara didn't believe her. It would take more than some nice words from a girl in a cowl and cape to sort through the mess that was going on inside the girl's head, but it was a good place to start. Sara took a deep breath and continued talking. 

“So, this man and I got talking. He just asked me questions, how I was doing, why I was there, what I wanted to be doing with my life… I told him I wanted to be on Broadway.” She shook her head. “God that's so cliché. ‘Local gay teen runs away from home and dreams of Broadway stardom.’” 

“Sounds saner than 'local bisexual becomes bat so she can fight crime’.” 

The girl blinked at her “Wait, you're...”

“Well why else do you think I made purple my motif?” she winked, gently nudging her with her elbow. “Batwoman is also, quite literally, a massive lesbian. She won't mind me telling you that either. So I guess it's just a running trait with us Bat Femmes.” 

Sara's smile grew a little broader, and finally looked like it was meeting her eyes. It was a dim light, but it was there, and that was a start. “So,” continued Steph, aware that GCPD would probably be arriving soon, “what did this guy do next?” 

“He-- he told me that he could take me to New York if I wanted to. He said-- he said the Calabrese had family up there, a safe house I could go to and stay in until I got a job. Until I got my first audition… it all sounds so fake now but at the time. Nobody had listened to me like that in  _ so _ long! I just wanted someone to believe in me for once. Stupid, so fucking stupid.” 

“You're not stupid,” repeated Steph, gently. “These guys specialise in misleading people. They're con artists, and they're good at their job. You're not to blame for any of this.” If she repeated it often enough, maybe the girl would finally believe her.

“Whatever,” sighed Sara, watching the marshmallows bob about in her cup. “He said that there was some sort of, job interview thing? Like, an audition to make sure I was actually good, and if I went with him then he could get me a place. So, I did. I got sent into a room, and met everyone here. We quickly realised we were all there for different reasons: Broadway auditions, scholarships, help finding missing siblings, trips to the cinema. Empty promises all round. The only thing linking us was that we were under age, and there was nobody around to miss us.” 

“Not true,” said Steph softly. “You're not the first missing kids who've been caught up in all this. We've been looking for you, you've had street friends asking about all of you! We just need your help to find the others, and to stop this from happening to anyone else.” Sara's smile felt strained. She still wasn't entirely believing anything Steph said, but at least she was hearing it. “What can you tell me about the guy who talked to you? What did he look like?” 

Sara scratched the back of her neck. “I don't know. White, slightly taller than me but not by a lot. He had a suit on I think.” She closed her eyes as she tried to recall as many facts as she could. Steph had her cowl up to record, so she wouldn't miss any of the details. “Yeah, a brown suit with purple pinstripes. I remember thinking he must be Broadway because nobody else would have a suit that flamboyant.” 

“What about an accent? What did he sound like?” prompted Steph. It might give her a clue as to what family he was associated with. 

“Not Gotham proper, but adjacent. Maybe Burnside or even Blüdhaven? Not out of state, that's for sure.” Not within any of the associated gang boundaries either. Curious. 

“Where did he take you? Can you remember?” 

The girl shook her head. “We were in a car, it maybe took twenty minutes? I don’t know… I didn't really track, I was too excited about the audition… I think--” she frowned. “I think there may have been a laundry place nearby, and an old rundown theatre, yeah, because at first that's where I thought we were headed. But he took me into an old building instead. He told me to wait in the hall. That there needed to be an even number or else it wasn't going to work… then--” she gulped, her jaw going taught from the effort not to cry. Steph reached out to hold her hand, to just give her that little bit of strength she needed to push through. Sara took a breath, and continued. “Then when there were enough of us, the rest of the guards came in and they, they took us out back. We tried to fight them off, but they were so strong. Too strong.” The tears were coming now, streaking lines across her face. “They shoved us into the back of a van. Out in the parking lot. One kid tried to cry for help but they just punched him in the face. I'm sorry I-- I can't--” 

Steph made soothing noises as she pulled her into a hug. “You're doing amazing, Sara. You're so brave and so smart. You're doing great.” 

“I'm sorry.” She sobbed, getting snot all over Steph's uniform. “I can't remember anything else. They never said what they wanted us for. Just that they needed even numbers. I don't-- I'm so sorry I don't--” Steph clung tighter to her letting her cry it all out. There was a gentle cough, and one of the shelter's social workers popped her head around the door. 

“Sorry Batgirl, but, the police are here and want to talk to you both. It's Detective Gage? He said the two of you were friends?” She sounded almost apologetic. 

Steph looked at Sara. “It's best if you still tell them everything you told me. Nick's actually one of the good guys, he'll keep you safe. I promise.” She pulled a hanky from her pouch and wiped away the girl’s tears. It sounded cliché, but one of the main things she did as Batgirl was comfort the crying. It's partly what set her apart from Batman: he never stayed, she always would. Having a hanky on hand really helped with that. It had a little purple bat embroidered on the corner too, a Hanukkah gift from Alfred. Because who else would give out bat-themed handkerchiefs? 

Sara nodded, wiping her eyes before handed it back, but Steph folded her hand around it instead. “You keep it,” she smiled. “I have plenty more at home.” She really did as well, Alfred had clearly learnt that Bats went through utility belts quicker than they did clean underwear. Unless you were Jason, who didn't seem to bother with such things. 

The social worker held the door open for them as Sara tentatively made her way back towards the others. She could hear Nick already taking details. He wasn't the best when it came to kids, but at least he could be trusted. 

“You coming too, Batgirl?” 

“No, got to fly back home to roost. Tell the detective that I'm flattered, but I already have a boyfriend.” 

The social worker grinned, her well set laughter lines crinkling. “I thought you might say that. There's a fire exit on the right past the kitchens. I'll tell them you left straight after you dropped them off. And hey,” she took another step inside, pulling the door too. “Can I just quickly ask, for a bet we've got going on, your boyfriend?” 

“Yes…” she said warily. 

“Is it Red Robin?” 

Well thank fuck for that. If she'd said anyone else she might have burst into laughter and where would that leave them? “No, sorry to disappoint but I don't date cops  _ or _ vigilantes.” 

“Oh well, worth a shot I guess. S’pose I owe Mac eight dollars.” She didn't seem too put out by it though, her smile never fading for even an instant. 

“I’ve really got to go now, but I'll be seeing you around, err…” 

“Yvette.” 

“Yvette.” Steph nodded. “Thank you for everything you've done, you're doing great work here.”

“So are you Batgirl.” Yvette winked at her before exiting the room. Steph heard her very loud apologies to Nick from the other room, and his consequently confused and exasperated response. Poor man, he really  _ was _ hot, a real catch. But like she said, she didn't date crime fighters. Not really. Not when you thought about it. She wasn't dating  _ Red Robin _ after all. She was dating  _ Tim Drake _ , that was the whole point of their new relationship. So why did saying otherwise feel like lying? 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that meme from Always Sunny? Of the guy with the notice board covered with red string and frantic notes? That’s me trying to figure out how all the different organised crime families of Gotham link together. 
> 
> Also Tim’s comments about everything Steph owns being purple is just as much as self drag. I'm sitting on my bed and I can see: Purple Phone, Purple IPad, Purple Bin/Trash Can, Purple Blanket, Purple Hoodie, Purple Jumper, Purple Punk Trousers, Purple T-Shirt, Purple Nail Polish… at least my hair is no longer purple? (It's blue)


	5. Two Sides to a Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It's in the stars, it's been written in the scars on our hearts  
> We're not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again.” _Just Give Me a Reason _P!nk__

Tim had honestly not expected Steph to show up after what she’d done, going off plan like that and just taking off without a word! No, not without a word, with an insult. Hanging up on him like that had been so completely unprofessional! So yeah, he wouldn't be surprised if she went back to her old habits and skipped their debriefing to go to bed instead. But then again..  she had grown up a lot since her Spoiler days, she deserved more credit than he gave her. She was Batgirl now, and she had the approval of both Babs and Cass. So who was he to judge on how it was meant to be done? Huh, maybe he was growing up too. It didn’t matter though, he was still angry at her - you didn’t turn your back on your partner like that. They were meant to trust one another above everyone else, and she’d betrayed that trust.  

“Okay, whatever you have to say, let’s hear it,” she sighed, climbing out of Ricochet with an unimpressed look, “because whatever your argument is, I’m still not going to regret any of my choices. I  _ know _ I did the right thing today.”

“God, whatever happened to being open-minded?” He stared at her in disbelief. “You’re always the one telling me not to be so stubborn and yet there you are, already thinking yourself automatically in the right. What, because you’re Batgirl now? Because Batgirl works alone and doesn’t need our support?” Okay, maybe he wasn’t as grown up as he thought he was. 

“Hey, that’s unfair.” She took a step forward, pointing a finger at him. The cowl hid some of her face, but Batgirl and Red Robin had been working long enough to read every micro expression, and he could tell she was pissed. Which was completely unreasonable since it hadn’t been  _ Red Robin _ who’d walked out on their plan. “You and I worked well together today,” continued Batgirl, apparently completely ignorant to it all. “Without sharing our information we'd  _ both _ still be stuck. I was the one to spot the patterns in the data you collected. Fuck, without me you'd have been too damn stubborn to and check in with Red Hood to see what he'd learnt that might help! You focused on the numbers, and I focused on the people, that's how this works and that's how we save lives.” 

“Yet you’re still the one who didn’t stick to the plan and left me all alone in that warehouse. How is that working as a team? You literally just drove off with those kids to God Knows Where! How was that following the plan? The plan we made  _ together _ .” 

“You’re the one who told me to leave you and get them out of there! The kids were our top priority, not whatever it is The Families are involved in, you agreed to that. They didn’t want to go to the police station Tim, I mean-- Red Robin-- I-- urgh.” she tugged her cowl down, she was Stephanie now. He was arguing with Stephanie. He didn’t  _ want _ to be arguing with Stephanie, but she didn’t seem to understand that. “Yes, the original plan was to take them to the police station where we thought they'd be safe, and take their statements from the main GCPD computers later on. But they  _ weren’t _ going to be safe there! And they certainly weren't going to tell the cops the whole truth! But they might tell me. I was the one they trusted, Tim, not the police.”

He bristled slightly at the use of his name. They’d sworn to keep their work and their personal life separate, this was a work argument and it should stay a work argument. “Perhaps you’re right  _ Batgirl, _ but tell me: where would be  _ safer _ for them than a police station? Where else could they go where they can be kept an eye on and still be able to submit reports that can be used to  _ actually _ prosecute these people without getting turned away for False Evidence?” 

“Errrm, I don’t know,” she hummed. “Maybe a place that specializes in looking after traumatised homeless kids? It’s not like I could take them back to the batcave and get Bruce Wayne to adopt them!” 

“Oh, and what’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?” 

Steph sighed and rubbed her temples. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that. I took them to a Wayne centre, okay? I didn’t mean to--”

“--to what?” He cocked his head “to what Stephanie. Come on. Say it, you're usually so good at just blurting out whatever comes into your head. Why stop now?” He felt his heartbeat increase, his palms growing sweaty as everything started to spiral out of control from around them, their problems only growing with every word spoken. He was undergoing a fight or flight response, and he’d trained himself to always choose fight; even if every instinct right now was telling him to get out and get to safety. 

Stephanie glared at him, lips pursed. “I mean, you over-dramatic condom-head,” Tim spluttered at the insult, and then berated himself for essentially proving her right. “You don’t know what it’s like for those kids. I  _ do _ . When your life went to shit, you had a billionaire to take you in and give you all the home comforts you could possibly need. You had a built-in family ready and waiting to shower you with hugs and kisses. Those kids? They have nothing. Same as I did. When my life fell apart, when I hit rock bottom, you know what I had? A drug addict for a mother and a dad who was in and out of Blackgate. A dad who locked me in a cupboard whenever I spoke out of line, and told his colleagues to kidnap me for collateral.” 

Tim kept silent throughout her speech. It wasn’t like his life had been easy! His parents had been neglectful for most his life, leaving him alone for weeks, sometimes even months, on end. It was only his mother’s murder that had driven him and his dad back together. Then even  _ that _ had fallen apart, and so soon after she’d left him too… but Bruce  _ had _ been there for him, even if hugs and kisses were  _ really _ not his thing. But there had been Dick, and Alfred, and Cass. He even had the Teen Titans to fall back on: Cassie, Bart, Conner... Sure, he didn’t know what it was really like for these runaways, or even at that matter for Steph. Yet that didn’t mean he couldn’t sympathise. He knew all too well what it was like to be the one nobody would listen to, the one constantly shoved to the side in favour of others. And besides, what did all of that have to do with anything here? It wasn't like that was what they were  _ actually _ arguing about. 

“It sounds like you’re getting too close to the case.” He replied calmly and cooly, sort of hating himself even as he said, “Maybe I should step in instead and--” 

“--Oh don’t you even think about it.” Her voice started to echo throughout the cave. “Don’t you understand? After all I’ve been through, there’s no way in hell _I’m_ gonna be the one to give up on these kids. Not like everyone else in this damn city has. If you’re not getting emotionally involved here, then what are you even _doing_ here? Come on Tim, what choice did I have on this one? You know how corrupt the system is. The Gotham cops are all bent; no amount of funding or employment screening is going to change that. Sure, there’s one or two we can trust, yeah. But how do we know they’re the ones who’ll be at the station? And even then, the good ones that do exist? They follow the law to the letter, and that means calling in the kids’ parents, the very people they were running away _from_. The commissioner's a good guy, one of the best men I know, but there’s a reason there’s a giant emotionally-stunted bat flying around the city. If I got them to the shelter, where they _wanted_ to go _,_ have a chance to talk to them myself, and _then_ called it in, I can guarantee Nick’ll be the one to show up and--” 

“--Oh of  _ course _ !” He drawled, a foul grin spreading across his face unbidden. “You just wanted an excuse to see  _ good ol’ Saint Nick. _ ” 

Steph gaped at him, unable to process what he’d said, and he felt a twinge of guilt spread through him. He didn’t mean to be jealous, he knew there was nothing to be jealous  _ of _ . She and Detective Gage were partners, same as Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Yet he just couldn’t seem to help riling up at his name… why was she so much more willing to work with Gage than with him? What did he have that Red Robin didn’t? 

“Detective Gage and I have an understanding. I know I can trust him, and he knows he can trust me. If we work together, we can guarantee the safety of this city. And yes, I’ll agree, he is pretty damn cute. But you know what--” She prodded Tim in the chest. “For some damn reason,  _ you’re _ my boyfriend. You’re the stupid, jealous idiot I keep falling in love with. Even though right now, you’re still hiding behind that damn Dr. Mid-Nite cosplay.” 

“Oh, we’re resorting to cheap shots now, are we? At least I have my own identity and not borrowing someone else’s. I’m not still playing dress-up with the older girls’ clothes.” 

“Oh  _ please _ ,” she snorted. “You’re  _ Red Robin _ ” she sang, throwing her whole body into it. “Either you stole your name from a restaurant chain, or you’re still trying to prove to everyone you're the best Robin, Batman’s eternal sidekick. Meanwhile, I've moved on from that. I’m Batgirl now,” she pointed at her heart, a familiar passion in her eyes that he loved with his whole being. “And I  _ love _ it. For once in my life, I’m truly part of something greater, not in someone's shadow but by their side. I’m not just trying to prove myself to everyone around me: Bruce, my father,  _ you _ . I’m Batgirl, and I protect people, I give hope where Batman gives fear. What do  _ you _ do?” 

Tim tried to open his mouth to answer, but couldn’t seem to find one. “That’s-- that’s beside the point. What matters right now, is that you didn’t consult with me on what you were going to do. If you’d just  _ told _ me, instead of relying on Oracle to do it for you. If you’d just--  _ talked _ to me for a change...” He pulled his cowl down at last, wiping the sweat away with a sleeve. “Why’d you do it, Stephie?” 

She collapsed into one of the swivel chairs by the desk. “I told you. The kids asked me not to take them to the cops. They didn’t want to risk their parents finding out where they were. You should have seen them, Tim.” She shook her head, a distant look coming over her. “It was like the very thought of going back to them was even more horrifying than everything they’d already been through that night. I needed to give Oracle time to get their fake IDs sorted. I needed to make sure they had someone there to look after them, and stand in their corner for once. It was a _Wayne_ shelter I took them to, Tim. The same ones you help fund, that that stupid Gala on Friday is for. I took them to the safest place I could think of that wasn’t here, and it was still you.” 

“Then why didn’t you tell me all that?” He felt so small, her words cutting deeper than he thought. “I thought we were partners, I thought we were meant to tell one another these things. Whatever happened to ‘no more lies?’” 

“I guess, despite everything I said before, I was still scared of what you might think of me. That you'd try to stop me, call me stupid and reckless. It's hard to stop feeling that way after so long.” She clenched her hands together in her lap. Tim knelt down in front of her, taking them into his own. 

“Steph, surely by now you know that I could never really think anything bad of you. You’re the only solid thing I’ve got going on in my life. I want you to be a part of everything I do, even if I’m-- even if I’m an idiot about it all. Even when I say the wrong thing, I always want you to be the one beside me. I thought-- I thought you knew that? I thought you felt the same way.” 

“I do,” she smiled, bringing his hands up to her lips to press a light kiss on them. “It’s just really hard sometimes to let go of the past, and just forget all that's come before. You're totally right, sometimes I  _ am _ too reckless and  _ don’t _ say the right thing or make the best decisions. I’m  _ made _ of mistakes, I just need to know that you’ll forgive me when I make more, and be there to help me get back up.” 

“Steph, I've told you, I’m always going to forgive you. You know I think you're perfect, even if you're perfectly ridiculous sometimes.” He gave her a quick jab to the shoulder, which she gleefully returned. 

“All right then, apology accepted. And I’m sorry I went behind your back on it. I won’t cut you off in the future, okay? Open communication at all times.  _ Promise _ .” 

“Good,” he smiled, leaning up to press a kiss to her lips, which she returned with just a tad more pressure. “I’m glad we could sort this out,” she mused as she thoughtfully combed her fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry we let this get in the way of everything, I didn’t mean to push this into our work lives too.” 

“It’s okay, it was bound to happen some time I guess. Still Stephanie and Tim though?’

“Still Stephanie and Tim.” She agreed, kissing him one last time. “Which means that Stephanie has to go back home because she has a class to get to in the morning. See you on Thursday for waffles?”

“Yeah, see you on Thursday.” He smiled, trying to look happy when really he just felt empty. He wanted to tell her that she could stay here. That she didn’t need to always leave him standing there alone, but he didn’t know how to tell her that without sounding like he was trying to keep her trapped in. So instead he waved goodbye, like he always did, as she drove off into the night and back to her home. Which wasn’t with him. 

 


	6. Two Opposing Forces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Little do you know   
> I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece   
> Little do you know   
> I need a little more time” - _Little Do You Know _Alex & Sierra__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the part where I admit most of my knowledge of the DC Universe beyond the BatFam comes from the CW Arrow-verse. So let’s just assume that the way the companies in those universes work, are the same as they do in this universe?

Wednesday night had Steph back on regular patrol, whilst Tim did further research into the chemical make up for the drugs they'd found. It was apparently all very interesting with a mix of steroids and mood stabilizers and other stuff Steph didn't really understand. As far as she could tell, one liquid was translucent purple, the other was opaque white. You could probably drink them, or inject them, the choice was yours. Either way? Bad decision. 

Steph was still developing the scientist part of being a Bat. She’d only really started to get to grips with computers once she realised it was all just spotting patterns and reacting to the unexpected. You just had to learn the right languages to be able to read it all. Though she'd probably have to start brushing up on the harder stuff once she started her internship. Everywhere she planned to apply for had some sort of base in science, mostly Physics and Chemistry. She had the credits for it, but she'd never be fluent. Still, Tim was the genius, not her. Some day he was going to be the world's greatest detective, and she was more than happy to stand at the back and applaud. She had her own goals, after all. She hadn't figured them out yet, but she still had time. Probably. So long as she didn't die again.  

She kept a careful eye on the areas where the kids had been taken from, but there didn't seem to be anything more unusual than before. A few muggings, some minor drug deals, but it seemed the closer you got to Calabrese territory, the more everyone seemed to behave. Whoever this new leader was, she clearly had everyone terrified. She'd asked around a bit more, found some of the kids who'd been using her Shelters, but she didn't get any more information than she had before. Only that the woman was meant to be extremely attractive, extreme dangerous and, as Proxy had so wonderfully described it,  _ exactly _ Steph's type. 

Steph had also caught a sight of Catwoman earlier in the night, but she'd just winked at her and continued on her way.  _ God, _ Steph was gay. So very, very gay. She was obviously devoted to Tim, he was the only one for her. But… come on,  _ Catwoman _ ! What self respecting queer girl wouldn't have to stop and stare? But she couldn't really allow for distractions, and resisted the urge to follow after her like some sort of pathetic forlorn stalker. She'd leave that role to Batman. 

On the whole it had been a quiet night, and there were no more signs of any other dealings. Maybe The Families had decided it wasn't worth the effort of evading two Bats? Or they had bigger things to worry about. Jason had said there was tension brewing amongst the gangs, who didn't like that The Families were gaining more power in the main city. They'd been ruling Gotham since the 1800s, so as far as they were concerned, The Families were upstarts encroaching on their land. 

She'd stayed out until sunrise, watching the city's pollution turn the sky purple and red. She yawned, it had been a long night, but at least she could rest easy knowing that no more kids had been taken. She'd need to try and get in contact with some of the New York based heroes, and get them looking for any of their missing kids. She probably had a favour she could cash in, once she actually thought about it. 

She swung back into bed at five am, and collapsed asleep. She didn't have any lessons tomorrow, but it was still a Thursday, and Thursday was their agreed breakfast date. There was a really good place not far from the main Wayne Enterprises building that did the most amazing waffles! It was so near the office that it was easy enough for Tim to pop in before work. It also meant that, for at least one day a week, she could guarantee he had more to eat for breakfast than just a pint of coffee. 

And people said  _ she _ had problems. 

He was already waiting for her when she arrived, as always. Even when she got there early, he was still waiting for her. Sometimes she wondered if he even slept on Wednesday nights (Thursday mornings?) or just came straight in from patrol. 

She gave him a quick kiss hello, and slipped into the seat opposite him. She waved merrily at the waitress, and she nodded back, preparing their usual order.  

“Get everything you needed last night?” he asked, taking a gulp of his coffee. It was impressive, really, his ability to down that much hot liquid at once. Images of Superboy dashed behind her eyes and she tried to suppress them. There were so many levels of inappropriate there. It really did not help that her boyfriend had a teen sex icon for an ex. She'd even had a pull-out poster of him on her wall, he was that hot!

“Yes and no,” she hummed. “There doesn't seem to be anything new to report, which I suppose is an update in itself. I saw Catwoman last night though, and that's always a delight.” She winked, still careful not to reveal too much of their ongoings when they were in public. 

“You're a disaster, Stephanie Brown,” he laughed nudging her under the table. 

“But you wouldn't have me any other way!” She stuck her tongue out, catching his foot with her own. She ran her foot just slightly up his calf and enjoyed his shy smile as he returned the favour. They sat quietly like that for a bit, eating their food in peace and enjoying just being able to spend time like this together. They were so desperately trying to make things work. Their disagreement on Tuesday had been more painful than she'd like to admit to, but then it had been their first major argument as a couple. Those were meant to be painful, but they'd worked through it together. She looked down at her waffles, watching the syrup soak into them and spread across the plate. There was something else she needed to talk to him about, before that became too painful as well. 

“By the way,” said Tim, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin like the rich boy he was. “I noticed you'd not submitted your application for the Wayne Internship next year, for your placement?”

“Yeeeah, about that…” she said slowly, twirling her fork around, trying to find the words. 

“Of course you don't  _ have _ to take a placement year if you don't want to,” he continued, “but I think it would be wrong of you to not take the opportunity. It's a fast-track into employment after all, I'm sure Babs is saying the same thing!” He added quickly, as though worried he was coming off as pushy. 

“Yeah, I've been looking into it. I just, wanted to talk to you about it before I sent it off.” 

He laughed, grabbing a hold of her hand. “Stephie, I have seen your work up close. You've improved so much in just a couple of years, you're a prime candidate! Why on earth would I not want to give you the job? But I can't hire you if you don't apply,” he teased, wagging his fork at her before going back to eating. 

Steph made a slightly pained noise. “The thing is, Tim, I-- I'm not... applying to… Wayne Enterprises.”

He looked up, confused. “Why not? We're here in the city, we've connections with Gotham U. Our computer science program is perfect for your skill set!”

“Yes….yes it is, and my boyfriend is the CEO,” she said, hoping he would understand what she meant. 

“Well surely that's just another advantage.” He went back to rubbing his foot back up her ankle. She twisted it away from him. He gave her another hurt and confused look. 

“No, Tim. Look, it's not that I don't love you, or think that your business isn't up to scratch or anything bad like that, it's just that I don't want everyone for the rest of my career saying I only got the job  _ because _ my boyfriend was CEO.” He opened his mouth to reply, but she held up a hand to hush him for a moment and let her get it all out.  “I've already talked this through with Babs ages ago. I know that I don't need to have a working class chip on my shoulder about trying to do things better than the rich kids. I know that I've got nothing to prove, or any reason to not take advantage of my connections. But, I'm just-- I'm not… comfortable with that power dynamic coming between us. People always tip-toeing around me because I'm screwing their boss, or else trying to smarm their way into my life just  _ because _ you're the boss. Does any of that make sense?” 

Tim was silent for longer than felt necessary. “So, who are you applying to? Powers Industries? Sure they're our rivals I guess, but they're still a pretty good company. You'd do well there.” His smile was fake but at least he was trying.

“Mmmmmmm, yeah,” she said slowly. “Powers is on the list. It's a choice. It's quite... low on there… but it's there…” 

Tim frowned now, leaning back as if trying to get her into full view. “Stephanie, open and honest communication. That's what you promised me just two days ago. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little upset that you spoke to Barbara about this before me, but she is your mentor, so I understand-- but still… come on Steph. What are you trying to tell me? Just come out and say it!” 

“I'm-- I'm considering applying out of state.”

He looked like he had completely stopped working. He just sat there blinking at her, his mouth still open. Timothy.exe had crashed. Perform manual reboot? 

She shook his arm. “Tim, Tim, come on. It's not that big of a deal  _ really _ . In the grand scheme of things.” 

“You want to... apply out of state?” 

“Yeah.” 

“For a whole year?” 

“That's the usual idea, yeah.”

“Does your Mom know?”

“Well, yeah.” Steph let out a little nervous laugh. “I mean, she's my Mom. I can't exactly leave her out of this. She's fine with me going away, says it's all part of me growing up and doing better for myself. She just wants me to be happy.”

“But, I thought-- I thought you were already happy? With me, here in Gotham. What did I-- why?” 

Steph felt her heart break into a million pieces. She'd done it again. This was what she'd been afraid of. She'd been so damn selfish, thinking only of herself... but still, this was her life and her career. She only had one real shot at the internship, but she had the rest of her life to be with Tim. 

“I want to know what it's like to live away from here for a bit. So when I come back home, I'll know it's home.” 

“You were in Africa for a year. Wasn't that enough?” His voice was so flat, so dull, and he looked as though all the air had left his body, leaving nothing but a deflated husk. God, why had she done this to him? 

“Tim, doing charity work as a way of covering up your own death doesn't quite fill the same need as going to Central City to work on actual technological infrastructure for developing nations. I told you, I want to help people, I want to make a difference. S.T.A.R labs have the technology and global influence to allow me to do just that! Or Queen Consolidated have a great Humanity Focused programme for ensuring social welfare. Even L Corp is--” 

“You'll work with a  _ Luthor _ but not me?” He said at last, his voice sounding perhaps a bit more high-pitched than he'd probably intended. 

“Lana isn't her brother, Tim,” sighed Stephanie. “You can't deny that the prospect of working with one of the world's most powerful women isn't appealing. I mean, come on! Aren't we meant to be encouraging more women to go into STEM subjects? What greater inspiration can there be than working in a female-led company!”

“Right, but, you said Queen Consolidated as well. That's Oliver's company. There's just as much of a personal connection there as there would be at Wayne Enterprises!” 

Stephanie raised an eyebrow at his argument. “Oliver is  _ Dinah's _ ex-husband, not mine. I doubt he's even aware that Batgirl has changed hands. He probably doesn't even  _ remember _ Spoiler. And, if I move there, Dinah's agreed to let me live at her old place. I'd have the Birds of Prey around still, so I wouldn't have to give up the hero business either and--”

“Well, it looks like you have it all sorted out already,” he said stiffly. “Without me. As usual.” 

“Tim, come on!” She pleaded, reaching out for his hand. “I haven't submitted any of the applications yet because I wanted to talk to you about them. I love you, you know that. Like, deeply, stupidly, writing-your-name-in-gel-pen in-love. But I have to think about myself as well. It's just a year,” she added. “What’s a year in comparison to the rest of our lives?” 

“That is, if you come back this time,” he whispered, so quietly that she almost didn't pick it up. She just sat back and stared at him, at a loss for words. 

“Tim-- I'm not--”

“Tim Drake?!” a shocked voice sprung out of the ether. The pair of them jolted upright to see who was talking. There was very pretty girl, with round eyes and a heart shaped face framed with masses of curly dark brown hair. Steph felt like she recognised her, but couldn't quite place it...

“Ariana!” Tim immediately let go of Steph's hand. Ah. The Ex. The Ex he'd sort of cheated on with her. She still felt bad about that. It was just some kisses but if  _ she _ found out that Tim was going around kissing other people without her consent, she'd be pretty pissed off about it. 

“It's been a while.” Ariana smiled, looking at Stephanie for an introduction. 

“I’m Steph, Tim's girlfriend.” She forced a smile, “I think we may have met briefly back in the day.”

“Care to join us?” asked Tim, and Steph could tell that he was on autopilot now. Tim Wayne was taking over. 

“Umm, I'm just waiting on my own girlfriend, actually.” She blushed, looking at Steph as though to say, 'So no need to worry that I'm here to steal your man’. Not that she'd think that at all. Nobody could steal a boyfriend from you, Tim wasn't her property. But that didn't mean he wouldn't leave. She'd not felt that particular insecurity in a while; it kind of made her want to throw up. 

“Well, you're still welcome to sit for a while.” Tim Wayne gestured at the seat next to Stephanie. Ariana looked around as if trying to find an excuse to leave, but there weren't any other booths currently available. Curse this place’s amazing, amazing waffles. 

“Well, alright then. You're looking great by the way!” said Ariana warmly. “I heard that you'd become CEO, that's really impressive.” 

“Yes, it's been a challenge, but by this point I'm sure that I have proven myself more than worthy of the title. Our stock prices have risen back up to before the attempted take-over, and continue to do so at a steady rate.” 

“Errr, that's good to hear?” Ariana looked to Steph for an explanation. 

“I'm sorry for being so inconsiderate, how are you doing Ariana? How are your aunt and uncle?” continued Tim Wayne, his head cocked to the side in order to present caring and considerate body language.

“Errr, well…” she began carefully. “Surprisingly enough, Russian Catholics weren't too happy to hear that their niece was a massive lesbian. So I've not really spoken to them in a while. But other than that, I'm doing great!” she added quickly at Tim's look of shock. “I'm living in Metropolis at the moment, which is great because I've not been kidnapped by the Mob in  _ years _ , and so far nobody I've met there has been brutally murdered!” She laughed as if it were normal to use traumatic events as fun breakfast time conversation. She was a Gotham Girl though, and you needed a sense of humour darker than Tim's coffee to survive here. Their greatest Villain was called _ the Joker _ after all. “I'm going to college, I've got an internship lined up at the Daily Planet for next semester, which I am very excited for! Lois Lane, watch out, there’s a new girl in town.” She winked at Steph. Tim Wayne nodded in agreement.

“I'm sure she'll be a fine mentor, she interviewed me after I took over the company, and did an excellent job of it. Just the tone we were looking for without being sycophantic. She really put me through my paces.” 

God it hurt to see Tim Wayne talking. Why did they have to have so many identities? What was wrong with being allowed a normal life? Or were you only granted one of those if you managed to leave Gotham behind? 

She'd really gone and messed everything up. Again. 

“Soooo, how did you and Stephanie meet?” Ariana smiled, looking between them. It would usually be a safe, well-rehearsed topic, but apparently not today as Tim abruptly stood up. 

“I am so sorry, I have a meeting in an hour I need to prepare for. I will see you tomorrow Stephanie. Ariana, it was a pleasure to be see you again. I'm sorry about your aunt and uncle, but I wish you the best of luck at your internship.” He actually shook Ariana's hand like it was all just a business meeting! He placed a truly random assortment of cash on the table, nodded to Stephanie when usually he'd kiss her, and left without another word. 

Stephanie threw her head forward and smashed it against the table. Ariana looked only mildly surprised, since it took more than a dramatic headdesk to get a rise out of a Gothamite. 

“So, care to tell me what that was all about?” she asked at last, when Steph refused to move. 

“It's his defence mechanism and it sucks,” she spoke into the table. It was slightly sticky from her own Maple Syrup Mishaps, but she really didn't care at this point. 

“Well, that much I gathered. Tim was always a little weird, he had his secrets, acted a little… flaky… but that just now was…” 

Steph twisted her head to the side to look at Ariana without having to actually get up from the table. “Horrifying? Disturbing? Warrant for Arkham?”

“Concerning.” She smiled warmly at Steph. “I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that none of that was genuinely about me?” 

“Nope. That was all for my benefit.” 

“You, wanna maybe, talk about it?” Ariana looked torn between her innate desire to be a good person, and being acutely aware that their only connection was being Tim's High School Girlfriend. Steph tried to weigh up her options. An outside perspective might actually be helpful, and she had just witnessed an absolute car crash and not run away. Steph peeled her face up off the table, leaving behind a few hairs stuck to the surface. 

“I told him that I was planning on applying to internships out of state. He didn't take it very well.” 

“I can see that.” Her mouth was somewhere between a grin and a grimace. It pretty much summed up the whole situation. 

“Yup. We had an argument the other night as well, about, errr...” Being a vigilante with an appropriately tragic backstory apiece that meant they both had poor communication skills? “Relationship stuff.”

Ariana nodded in understanding. She could already see why Tim had liked her so much. She was a genuinely kind person, who was willing to listen to people without judgement. Yet Steph got the feeling that she always knew more than she was letting on. She could see why journalism held such an appeal to her. Five minutes in and she'd already convinced Stephanie to open up about her whole relationship. 

“We've always had communication issues. I know that, but we've been working through it! This is our fourth time trying to give this relationship a go. Life kept getting in the way before. I got pregnant, he broke my heart with all his secrets, I nearly died and moved to Africa, his dad actually  _ did _ die and then Bruce went missing--” No wait, crap the public didn't know that bit! “--from Tim's life.” There, that was better. “Which I admit I failed to support him through.” Read: followed his adoptive-father's final orders to try and make him a better Robin by setting assassins after him, with disastrous consequences. “Then it just felt like he'd tried to tell me how to live my own life one too many times, and I just couldn't take it anymore.” Wow, when you said it all out loud, without any of the Super Hero stuff, it really did sound like a complete mess of a relationship. Why  _ were _ they giving this another go again? Oh. Right. She loved him.

“Even just glossing over the nearly dying part there, that's still a lot.” Ariana replied warily. 

“Did I mention that when we he first kissed me he was still dating you? Which, I am still  _ super _ sorry about!” She didn't know how to explain herself properly on this one. Somehow she felt  _ ‘We were teenagers in masks with alter egos so nothing outside of those identities felt like it mattered but I soon learnt that was utter bullshit and totally disrespectful to your value as a person’ _ wouldn't quite work.

“ _ Oooooh _ ! So you were the Other Girl! I knew there  _ had _ to be someone else.” Ariana said with something surprisingly akin to delight. “Oh well, at least it sounds like he left me for someone better suited.” 

Steph heaved a sigh of relief. “Yeah, a Bisexual is a bit of a better fit for him than a Lesbian.” 

“Well, that as well. Hence why I'm not cut up about it. But as I said, it sounds like you two have a lot of history, what made you get back together?” 

“Because I can't stop myself from loving him no matter how hard I try. And we've both done a lot of growing up in that time.” They’d both graduated Robin school for one, well, she'd been kicked out but it was all the same really. “I thought maybe we were strong enough now to overcome all this, but apparently not.” 

“Well, you are playing into his abandonment issues just a bit.” 

“What?” said Steph, frowning at her. “He has abandonment issues?”

“Well, yeah,” she said matter of factly. “His parents left him alone a lot of the time, and he's always kept people at arm's length so it wouldn’t hurt as bad if they left him as well. You moving to Africa probably didn't help matter much either. It all adds up.”

Plus his Adopted Dad got trapped in the past for over a year, with everyone but Tim believing him to be dead, and so therefore everyone assumed Tim was being delusional in his assertion to the contrary, but again, Ariana wasn't to know any of that.

“Well, why couldn't he be the one to explain all of that!” whined Steph, throwing her head back against the backrest. “Why am I always cursed to be surrounded by emotionally stunted Waynes!” 

Ariana just shrugged. “I can't answer that. I'm his ex for a reason. That goes beyond liking girls. I mean, no offence, but he really wasn't the best boyfriend.” 

“Yeah, I'm still sorry about that…” 

Ariana waved it away again. “Don’t worry about it, it's all in the past, and I can assure you, we had problems way before you were on the scene. But what that experience with him has taught me, is that that he really must care about you a lot. He wouldn't be freaking out so much if he wasn't so scared of losing you. You’ve just got to find a way to make him see that you moving won't mean you stop being together, you know?” 

“So, you don't think I should stay?”

“I think you already  _ know _ you want to leave Gotham, you're just scared to admit it. Being scared is no reason to stop following your dreams.” Her eyes darted quickly over the door, to where a tall girl with dreadlocks and gold eyeshadow had just walked in. She spotted Ariana and made her way over, Steph could see that she was wearing a batgirl T-Shirt underneath her pin covered denim jacket. This girl was certified Stephanie Brown Approved. 

“Hey babe!” She had a beautiful deep baritone that did things to Steph. “You ready to go? Who's your friend?” 

“This is Stephanie, my Rich Ex-boyfriend's current Girlfriend. Stephanie, this is  _ my _ girlfriend Maxie.  

“Nice T-Shirt,” said Steph, who was not above narcissism. 

“Well, my girl bought me all this way to show off her Gotham haunts, thought I might as well dress appropriately. And Batgirl is the best of the Bats.” 

“Couldn't agree more.” grinned Steph. “Though, Red Robin has his appeals too,” she felt obligated to add. 

“Whatever floats your boat sweetheart,” chuckled Maxie. “Ready to go Arri? We're meeting up with your school friends at twelve, right?” 

“Yeah, sorry Steph, we should probably get going. Think about what I said, alright?” She squeezed Steph's hand before letting Maxie pull her to her feet for a kiss. Steph recognised that look: it was the one she was used to seeing on Tim. 

“Thanks for everything Ariana. See you around?” 

“Sure thing.” She beamed and Stephanie was once again left alone to her syrup-covered woes. Couldn't she just have something in her life go right? One year. A singular year with no drama. Was that too much to ask? 

  
But this was Gotham. All Gotham  _ was _ was drama, yet it was still the only home she'd ever known. Could she really leave? Could she really allow herself to break Tim Drake's heart all over again? Or in turn, let him break hers?  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a note to say, that if you haven't gone and picked up a copy of Young Justice #5 then you need to get on that because it has some of the BEST Tim X Steph content that there has been in YEARS. It's... I got it on Wednesday and I've already read it 8 times. I will probably read it another 20 times before the month is over.


	7. A Second Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Brother let me be your fortress   
> When the night winds are driving on   
> Be the one to light the way   
> Bring you home” - _Brother _NEEDTOBREATHE__

Tim didn't actually have a meeting to get to. He'd just needed an excuse to get out of there, and luckily being a CEO had granted him a slightly better one than when he'd been fourteen. Talk about your flashbacks. There he was, trying not to repeat his previous mistakes when in walks the ghost of girlfriends past. He'd been kind of a dick to Ariana as well, both just now and back then. He'd not shown her the attention she deserved. He hadn't been  _ actively _ horrible to her, just neglectful. 

And now Stephanie was going to leave him. Had he let her down again? Had their fight been just that bad? He thought he'd been doing alright on the boyfriend front. They'd been spending lots of time together, he'd been sure to listen to all her problems and share his own. Things had been really good! Or so he'd thought…

Was it the sex? He didn't really know why they'd not had sex yet, it just felt like one of those things. He was sure he fell somewhere to the right of the Kinsey Scale, but he still wasn't  _ especially _ interested in sex. It just, didn't seem like that big of a deal? But they'd been emotionally vulnerable, of that he was certain. And there had definitely been a lot of making out, like, a  _ ton _ of it. Behind trees, in cars, sitting in the back row of cinemas. They'd just not yet spent the night together for a variety of reasons. Though, he couldn't really think of any right now.

He tried to get some work done finalising the latest press releases and requests for funding from different departments. He just couldn't focus though. All he wanted to do was jump out the window and find a nice gargoyle to mope on. He stared down at his half-empty coffee mug, hoping to find some answers in there. 

“Watch Tower to Baby Bird, come in Baby Bird!” 

Tim looked up, and there was his oldest brother waving a hand in front of his face. 

“Ah! He moves at last! Thought Mr. Freeze had been moving around here, or there'd been another temporal shift. Hate it when that happens.”

“What are you doing here, Dick,” he sighed, pushing his hand away. “I'm at work. Shouldn't you be too?” 

“Nope! It's the joys of owning a circus, you don't always have to be in the office.” He grinned that showman smile that had caused such a riot in the gossip pages. Tim had fallen for it himself, when he was a kid who didn't know any better. He was wise to Dick's moves now. He knew a lie when he saw it.

“Barbara sent you, didn't she?” He leant back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. Dick gave a tiny shrug of acknowledgement. 

“Okay, so I may have gone to see her first, but I  _ was _ going to drop in on you guys as well! But when I got to the Clock Tower, Babs turned me back around and sent me here instead; where she'd said I'd be better put to use. Looking at you in person, I think she was right.” 

He pulled up a chair and turned it around so he could straddle it. He folded his arms across the top, and rested his chin on his hands. “ _ So _ , is this a Red Robin Problem, or a Tim Drake Problem?” 

Tim sighed. “I think it's both, more even. It's a Tim Drake, Red Robin, Tim Wayne, Alvin Draper problem.” 

“Ah, a crisis of infinite Tims.” Dick nodded wisely. “Well, in that case,” he did a quick twirl around in the swivel chair, “I think we best get you out of this office and back home where you can be-- _ ”  _ Dick raised his fist in the air, _ “--all of the Tims _ !” 

Tim gave him a dry look. “You know that meme is dead, right? Nobody uses that meme anymore.” 

“A good meme never dies, Timbo.” He grinned, using the momentum of the chair to leap to his feet. He danced around and began to try to pull Tim up. “Come on Timmy, staying here is not going to help you. Up and at 'em! Time to fly the roost. Don't make me carry you out of here over my shoulder. I can, and I will.” 

“Yeah, I'd like to see you try,” he grouched, shoving him away. “I do actually have work to do, you know. I can't just leave in the middle of the day!”

“Sure you can! Bruce does it all the time.” 

“No, he does not. He doesn't neglect any of his duties. If he can manage, then so can I.” He turned back to his laptop. “It's great to see you Dick, maybe we can talk about it tonight. It's very sweet of you to come and check on me, but I promise you I'm fine. I'm not fourteen anymore, I can handle my own problems.” 

Dick looked at him skeptically. “Yeah, okay that's Bull. I'm sorry about this Timbo, but I'm pulling the older brother card. Try to relax, it'll make the whole process easier.” 

Tim yelped as Dick reached down and physically pulled him up out of his chair and slung him over his shoulder. He tried to fight back, but height and strength were not on his side, and he couldn't exactly try to flip Dick in the middle of his office! 

Dick ignored his struggling and slapping, marching straight out the door, and into the bullpen.

“Erm, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Wayne, is everything, erm, okay?” asked his secretary. 

“Kevin, please can you tell my brother that--” began Tim, but Dick swung around so Tim wasn't facing him anymore and he was forced to look out upon all the other workers. Why had he decided on such an open plan office space? He'd read about them being good for company productivity and happiness. Now he was just embarrassed! He'd never felt more like a child. 

“Kevin,” began Dick, “my brother here isn't feeling too well, but really refuses to admit to it. You know how stubborn he can be sometimes I'm sure. After all, I know you're his right hand man here.” Was he flirting? “It would be amazing if you could please field his calls for the day. I know it's putting more strain on you, but I'd be  _ ever _ so  _ grateful _ if you could. He is my baby brother after all.” 

Tim rolled his eyes, glaring back at every other employee  _ daring _ them to take a photo, or to so much as snicker. 

“I, umm, well it would be no problem at all Mr Grayson, no problem, at all!” Kevin suddenly seemed as if he didn’t know what to do with his hands, or even where he was in general. Tim would almost be embarrassed for the man, if he wasn’t, you know,  _ hanging upside down from his brother’s shoulder in the middle of a work office _ ! 

“Please Kevin, call me Dick. Mr. Grayson just sounds far too formal.” Yup. Dick was flirting with the poor man, and worst of all? It was clearly working. 

“Oh well, okay,  _ Dick. _ ” Kevin giggled slightly in a way that had nothing to do with his name. “I’d be um, happy to oblige. Mr. Wayne doesn't have anything on this afternoon anyway. And, if he really is sick, then there's no use for him staying around the office to spread it, is there?” 

“Kevin, you are an absolute  _ star _ .” You could practically hear his smile go  _ ting! _ “I hope we'll be seeing you at the Gala tomorrow?” 

“Umm, yes. I've been helping with organising it, so, would be remiss of me to miss it now, I suppose.” Kevin was usually hard as nails when it came to dealing with people; it's why he made such a good secretary! Tim clearly needed to find someone immune to the Grayson charms. He was sure such a person out there  _ must _ exist somewhere in the multiverse...

“ _ Great! _ I look forward to seeing you there. I really have to go now though, but we'll be sure to catch up tomorrow,” Dick reached out and lightly grapped Kevin’s arm, pausing for a second longer than necessary, leaving Kevin even more flustered than before.  _ God _ Tim hated this whole experience. 

“Gee thanks Kevin, I’m so grateful for your help,” Tim said dryly, still hanging upside down from Dick's shoulder. He felt Dick pat him on the ass in what was probably meant to be an affectionate way, but just added to the list of reasons he would be killing Dick later. Oh god. If  _ any _ of this got back to Damian… 

Dick marched him through the entire office on his way back to the lift, refusing to put Tim down the whole time. 

“What was with all the flirting back there? I thought you and Babs were back together.” 

“No, not quite yet, but give it time.” He saw Dick blow a kiss at the security camera. Urgh. 

Would someone please come and save him from the turmoil that was Robin and Batgirl romances? Dick refused to let him go until they were inside the elevator, and only then if he promised not to run away from their conversation. Which, in fairness, had been his plan. So Dick’s plan of attack was, logically, the best way to get him to open up about his problems in an environment where they’d not risk exposing their secret identities. It didn’t make Tim any less furious though, it was hard enough being a nineteen-year-old CEO without getting treated like a literal child in front of all his employees. 

“Excuse you! You think you're the one with the tough job?” Dick’s mock outrage did nothing to calm Tim’s temper. “You try being a big brother who has to look out for all his little siblings, and keep them away from their self-destructive behaviours. It's not easy being the only emotionally stable one in the family!” 

“Oh, come on! You're making me sound like Bruce. Or worse,  _ Damian _ ! Oh God.” The door opened to the parking lot but Tim refused to move. “I'm not being as bad as  _ Damian, _ am I?” 

“That is very mean, Damian has come a long way in the past three years. But, no, in answer to your question you are not as bad as Damian. You are starting to encroach on Bruce's territory though.” He grabbed him by the hand and pulled him through the now closing doors and marched him towards his car. “Now, what we're going to do is sing along to some Kelly Clarkson, and then when we get back to the manor we will be appropriately emotionally prepared to sit and eat ice cream whilst you open up about your problems.”

“I hate you.” 

“Oh come on, Tim. You know that they say… What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone,” sang Dick, giving him a little hip check. 

“I  _ really _ hate you.” 

And what he hated the most was that he was right. Tim had a soft spot in his heart for moments like this. He remembered hearing these songs all played at his Junior Prom, before all the Robin stuff had started to snowball. It felt like he was sharing a part of his past with Dick, the happier moments that weren't tainted with death and loneliness. His brother had also been right, there really was something cathartic about warbling along with Kelly, getting more and more dramatic song by song.

He’d expected them to move down into the cave, but instead Dick lead them into the main kitchen and dug out two pints of ice cream from the freezer. He held up a pint of Double Choc Brownie and a pint of Neopolitan. Tim, being no fool, went for the Choc Brownie. Even if his gut told him eating ice cream at this hour was probably not the wisest decision, and even if it was incredibly unhealthy, it wasn’t as though he wouldn’t burn it all off in one night of action. Still, it was a little odd for them to be talking like this… they usually had their heart-to-hearts whilst jumping trains blindfolded, or else whilst busy taking down whatever criminals happened to be nearby.

But maybe Dick was right, maybe it would be healthier in the long run to actually express their emotions in person. He suspected Dick was turning to the ice cream as a substitute for alcohol, he had another year to go before that would be a legal option. Dick waited patiently for Tim to start talking, giving him time to settle in and collect his thoughts. His brother really was a great listener; it was one of his lesser appreciated qualities. It must have been a skill he picked up at the circus, because he certainly hadn’t picked it up from Bruce. Tim dug his spoon deep into his tub and took a large mouthful in the same way one might down a shot of courage before finally talking. 

“Right, so, turns out that Stephanie is planning on leaving Gotham next year. She didn't give me any hints that she was even thinking about it, just completely sprung it on me out of nowhere.”

“She's already booked it all?” Dick sounded as shocked as Tim felt. Well, at least he had  _ one _ brother in his side.  

“Well, no, but she's clearly made up her mind.” He dug in for another spoonful, picking apart a brownie. “I mean, nothing's confirmed yet. She hasn't even sent out her applications, but you know. It's the thought that counts.” 

“So, she  _ has _ consulted you then. She  _ has _ tried to talk to you about it. So what’s the problem?” Dick reasoned tapping his spoon on the table. 

“Well technically, yeah, but it was clearly just a formality.” Tim stabbed at a stubborn chunk of chocolate, trying to stop his carton from flying across the table in the process. “I knew she had a placement year coming up. I just sort of assumed she'd be applying to Wayne Enterprises.” 

Dick winced a little. “That really wouldn't be appropriate though. She can't be an intern at her boyfriend's company. It'd be a HR nightmare.” 

Tim slumped down further in his chair, letting out a huff of air and dancing his spoon across the top of the ice cream. “That's basically what she said. But I thought it wouldn't matter because it's not like she isn't already capable of the job! She'd be really good!” 

Dick gave him an infuriatingly patient look. “Yes, she'd be able to do the job, Tim, but it wouldn't lead to much personal growth for her. Which is sort of the point of a placement year.” 

Tim wobbled his head as he tried to process the answer. He was trying his hardest to not behave like the child Dick was making him out to be because, well... maybe his brother had a point on that one. “I guess so. But she could have told me sooner! When she first started thinking about all of this.” 

Dick took a mouthful of neopolitan, mulling over his response. “Look, Tim, maybe she should have spoken to you about this sooner. But, equally it might just have slipped her mind, or she was scared of making the decision to begin with and didn't want anyone else knowing about it.” 

“She told Barbara!” he whined, realising it was a pathetic answer as soon as he said it. 

“Babs is her tutor at college and her mentor in Batgirling. She was always going to run things by her first. It's not the job of a romantic partner to be someone's only source of advice and emotional support. That's what siblings are for.” He poked his spoon across the aisle and attempted to steal some of Tim's double choc. Tim expertly battered it away. 

“If you wanted chocolate you should have gotten it yourself.” 

Dick withdrew his spoon, digging it back into his own tub. “Yeah, yeah, whatever Baby Bird. My point though, is how did you react when she told you this?” 

“Well, I-- I sort of. Froze up I think.” He stared into his tub, trying to think back to earlier. “I tried to convince her why she shouldn't apply elsewhere, and then-- and then when Ariana, my ex from high school, showed up out of the blue, I sort of went into auto-pilot.” 

Dick drew in a hiss of breath. “Your ex showed up in the middle of an argument with your current girlfriend? Oooh, ouch. That's rough bud.” 

“Tell me about it,” groaned Tim, running his hands down his face and cursing his terrible luck. ”It’s even worse, since auto-pilot these days is  _ Tim Wayne, CEO _ . I hope I didn't come off as too rude…”

Dick gave him another sympathetic smile, though this time it was bit more teasing. “You were probably overly polite and weird. Steph would have covered for you though.”

Tim nodded absentmindedly, trying to recall what exactly happened. “I think I may have shaken her hand when I left…” 

“Oh Timothy. Only you, Baby Bird, only you.” Dick reached across the table and ruffled his hair affectionately. Tim batted him away again, a reluctant smile coming across his face nonetheless. They sat again in a comfortable silence until Tim spoke up again; he felt more relaxed than before, but not even the huge amount of calories they’d collectively consumed could quite fill up that empty sensation he’d had since he’d left Steph in that breakfast bar. 

“I still don't understand why she wants to go though? She says she wants to see what it's like to live outside of Gotham, but come on! What's wrong with Gotham?” 

“Literally everything, Tim,” said Dick without skipping a beat. “We have evil clowns who beat children to death with crowbars.” 

“Oh come on, that kid was fine! He's still walking around, isn't he?” smirked Tim. Dick gave another snort of laughter, shaking his head fondly and dipping back into his own pot.

“She's right though,” he said around a mouthful of spoon. “Leaving home is one of those rights of passage things. I went to college, dropped out, started up a whole team of Teenage Superheroes. Got a mega hot, super clever, totally awesome alien girlfriend. It all worked out well for me! Now I can come back to Gotham and call it home. I can get personally offended when people insult the city I've bled to defend, whilst still acknowledging that it's nice to live somewhere where you're not always ten minutes away from another cataclysm. Maybe you should give it a go,” he added casually, not looking up from his ice cream. “Bruce is back now. He could easily take over as Full Time CEO again, and it’s not like Gotham is lacking in heroes these days.”

“This isn’t about me, Dick,” sighed Tim, who’d had this conversation with Dick before, and hadn’t thought much of it then either. He belonged in Gotham, that’s where his home was, would  _ always _ be. It was were he needed to be, and he’d never be able abandon it, of that he was certain. “We’re talking about Stephanie here. And she already  _ did _ her ‘year out’. In Africa! How much further away can you get?!” He was just repeating his arguments now, but at least Dick was doing a good job of making everything else make sense. 

Dick took a second to reply, keeping his tone even with what looked like some level of effort. It was the same expression he had when arguing with Bruce about the negative impact his self destructive behaviour was having on them all. It made Tim rather unsettled, he’d never wanted to be Batman, and it sort of terrified him that he might be becoming just like him… 

“Stephanie taking a year out in Africa taught her that she couldn't stay away from the vigilante life. It told her she wanted to come back here to where she called home, to start to reform all the relationships she lost, but that was her at  _ seventeen _ . We're talking now about her at twenty-one. You both know how much you've all been through in that period; it changes you.”

Tim felt himself running around in circles, desperately trying to get Dick to see things his way. “I get all that, I really do but-- but why does that mean she had to do it without me?” 

“Look, is she actually telling you she wants to do it alone?” Dick snapped at last, clearly having put up with Tim’s circular arguments for long enough. 

Tim couldn’t help but feel chastised by it all. Was this what it would have felt like to actually be Dick’s Robin? Maybe it was better he’d been forced to graduate. “She’s not explicitly saying it, but if she's moving away from Gotham it's not like I can go with her. I'm loyal to everyone here, I can't just up and leave! I have reasons to stay. I thought she did too…”

Dick tapped his spoon across the table as he seemed to try and restrain the urge to hit Tim with it. When he replied though, his tone was still firm, but a regaining some of the sympathy from before. “Tim, trust me, I know how much long distance can  _ suck  _ but if it's worth it? You'll find a way. You two have been through so much together, and she's somehow even more stubborn than you are! You really think something like a time zone is going to stop her being with you?”

“I just-- we'll say that at first but… what if she doesn't see Gotham as home anymore? What if she doesn't want to come back here? Like you said… Gotham is statistically the worst city in the whole nation. Who'd ever want to return?” 

Dick’s shoulders slumped slightly and his spoon clattered to the table “Oh Tim, is this what it’s really all about?” He got up moved around the island to sit beside him and draw him into a hug at long last. Tim didn’t really know how to respond to it, just froze and then slowly wrapped his arms around him as well. “Listen to me Tim, nobody is abandoning you again, okay? We're here for you, we will always be here for you. I love you, Tim.” He cupped his brother's face in his hands. “There's no need to be afraid anymore. I know when Bruce disappeared you took it hard, I know that you were also the only one  _ smart enough _ to bring him back to us. But Tim, we were still there for you the whole time. We're here now. In the real world.” He moved to tightly grasp Tim's hands between his own. “Nobody is going to abandon you,” he repeated solemnly, “We all love you Tim. We all care about you. Me, Bruce, Stephanie, Jason -- even Damian. He told me, you know,” he said slyly, “about coming to visit you in your office.” 

Tim felt himself truly laugh for the first time in a long while, and let the feeling bubble up inside him. “Of course he did. Probably thought you'd be needed to stand guard outside my door to protect Steph from my evil ways?”

Dick gave out a small sigh, shaking his head forlornly. “No, I don’t think that’s what he meant at all. He just wanted to make sure that you didn't hurt yourself by messing up any more of your relationships. He does genuinely care about you Tim, and I know you do too! Even if neither of you’ll ever admit it out loud.”

Tim only replied with a truly disbelieving look. Okay, so he did care about the little gremlin, but he wasn’t about to make any excuses for his warped sense of affection!

Dick gave a tired gesture, acknowledging Tim’s look. “Okay I’ll agree he went about it in a very Damian way, but he's aware of what mistakes happened in your past, and he doesn't want you to repeat them. So for him, that means making sure you're both taking the relationship seriously. See? It all makes sense when you think about it.”  There was a certain smug look about him, but it was the kind he’d come to expect from a big brother. 

“Right, so, in your  _ joint _ opinion me taking our relationship seriously means that I  _ shouldn’t _ have consensual sex with my long-term girlfriend?” Tim replied rather dryly. He knew that he’d maybe never truly understand the way the little gremlin’s mind worked, but this was twisted even for him. Dick seemed to understand him though, or maybe he was just better at coming up with excuses for his Robin’s behaviour. 

“He means it more like Steph not getting pregnant again. Which you know, is pretty fair all considered!  _ Hey _ , look,” Dick poked a finger at him. “I had to do so much damage control over Damian's concepts of relationships. He was created inside a test tube through dubious means that I think mostly boil down to consensual unprotected sex resulting in Talia gaining a free sperm sample? Yeah, major yuck,” he agreed with Tim's face of disgust. “Explaining the whole concept of ‘American Courtship Rituals’ turned into quite the movie night.” 

“Yeah, he mentioned something about that? What did you  _ watch _ ?” The brothers had shifted around now, both leaning on the counter to talk more normally. It was nice, getting to fall back into these familiar rhythms. Tim had honestly forgotten what it was like to have a big brother around. 

“Well, you know, thought I'd start him out with the basics,” began Dick, ticking them off on his fingers. “Frozen, so he can see the dangers of marrying a guy you just met and platonic love being as important as romantic love. Then we moved onto Tangled, because it's beautiful and romantic, and Flynn Ryder is my perfect man. We finished it off with Beauty and the Beast, and had a discussion about what it meant to love someone, if their relationship could be considered healthy or not, and how if you see a Gaston in real life, you should hit him in the face with a brick.” 

Tim reached back for his ice cream, the intent now more towards enjoyment than comfort. “I take that sentiment slightly personally, given how Steph and I met, but yeah. Those are good choices. Did you make him write an essay afterwards?” he grinned, imaging Damian being forced to sit down and be forced to analyse a bunch of talking teapots. 

“Yeah, actually I  _ did _ .” Dick tapped him on the head with his spoon. “One for each film! I had to make sure he was taking away the right lessons, and it's not like homeschooling has any particular rules on what counts as education and what doesn't.” 

“Mmmmmmm, pretty sure it does, Dick.” 

Dick rolled his eyes and batted away his concerns. After all, it was three years ago now, so it wasn’t like the school board could do anything about it. “Look,  _ Alfred _ was fine with it all! He thought it was a great idea, even if he did make me grade them. That was less fun, but I guess it was all part of the parenting experience.” 

Dick gave another little sigh, and it was strange to think of Dick being less a brother to Damian and more a father. But Tim supposed Dick was the closest Damian had until Bruce returned. It was perhaps no wonder the pair were so close. Tim did wonder what life would have been like though, had Dick always been allowed to be just a brother to Damian, the same way he’d been to Tim. Was that what Tim was meant to do now? Dick seemed oblivious to Tim’s momentary lapse, and continued on explaining his past lessons plans. 

“We watched some of the other classic Disney films for fun, but then we moved onto  _ Gilmore Girls _ for a couple of months, since you know, that's about relationships from a more realistic view point. There's marriage and sex and first kisses and yada-yada-yada. We got into a fight over who was the better boyfriend for Rory. I think it may have been the first normal argument we got into…” mused Dick, a sense of fond nostalgia about him.

“Team Jess.” Tim said, without hesitation. 

Dick raised his spoon in agreement. “Damian was team  _ Logan _ though, can you believe it? He said Logan could provide better financial security and had shown clear intent to change his ways in order to become a more suitable romantic partner.” The two brothers shook their heads. Damian clearly had a lot left to learn about the importance of chemistry within a relationship. He was still young though, he'd learn in time. 

“Recently, when Bruce was out of town, we picked up the marathon again with some more contemporary stuff.” Dick explained excitedly, clearly happy to get any chance to talk about his baby brother without having things thrown at him. “Damian’s thirteen now, he can handle more adult content. So we watched _ To All the Boys I Loved Before _ ,  _ The Fault in Our Stars _ , and  _ Love, Simon _ . I realised I needed to throw in a bit more diversity and representation, since everything had just been about heterosexual, white, able-bodied people. I am very glad I screened them first though, because they all made me cry like a  _ baby _ !” 

“Oh! Same! When Simon's Mom tells him he can exhale now?” Tim felt his heat swell at the memory of the film. It’d been one of the films Cassie had suggested they watch for their monthly Teen Titans’ Movie Night. It had quickly become a favourite amongst the gang.

Dick’s smile lit up the room, clutching his heart in what should have appeared over-dramatic but just came out as genuine. “It all reminded me so much of when I came out to Bruce, and Damian was  _ enthralled _ by all of them. Don't let him tell you differently! He loved them all, and asked really good questions afterwards. Like I said, he's come a long way since you first met him.”

“When I first met him and he tried to kill me, you mean?” Tim replied on automatic. What? He had a right to be bitter about that. Especially since he was still forced to listen to threats on a daily basis, even if they were becoming more affectionate lately. 

  
“Like I  _ said, _ Tim, he's come a long way. Oh, but speaking of sex and relationship advice,” Dick began, his eyes glittering dangerously. The kind of way that usually meant he was about to ambush someone from on top of a chandelier. 

Tim’s eyes widened as instinct kicked in and told him that now really was the perfect time to run. “Oh God, Dick, please don't use my little brother as a segue for this…” 

Dick gave him an affronted look. “Please Tim, I would never do something so horrible. No, I'm using  _ The Fault in Our Stars _ and that moment in the hotel room!”  

“Oh God, bury me now!” Tim groaned and proceed to get into the crash position against the counter top.

Dick continued on absolutely unperturbed by it all. “Have you and Steph considered using Skype! Or you know, FaceTime. Video chats in general. We've come a long way from Phone Sex you know! The technology is available to allow for you two to still poses a meaning and fulfilling sex life. No, come on, don't whine like that, this is good advice! I saw on the internet, you can get these vibrators that you can each control through the WiFi so it's almost like  _ they're _ the one who--” 

“ _ Dick _ !” pleaded Tim, his hands clamped firmly around his ears. “I do not want to be having this conversation. Steph and I haven't even had sex in person yet, okay? Not since we got back together at least. We're still waiting on the right moment. So-- just-- that is in no way a problem at this juncture. It's just my abandonment issues we have to deal with, okay?”

Dick held up his hands in surrender, but still looked a little curiously at Tim. “Really, eight months and you two haven't done it yet? You do still have your own place right? I mean, my flat in Blüdhaven is empty right now, if you want somewhere with a little more privacy.” 

Tim gave him a dirty look, well, as dirty as he could give when bright red and with his hands still clapped over his ears. “Location is not a problem, I assure you. We're just, taking it slowly, alright?”

“Eight months slowly?” Dick continued to look at him in disbelief, his eyes skating over him as if trying to find a cause for his ailment. Of course, there wasn’t anything wrong with him, well, not beyond the stuff they’d already discussed. 

“I told you already! We're waiting for the right time. It'll happen when it happens.  _ God _ why is everyone so concerned with us having sex? First Damian, then Jason, now  _ you _ . Can't you guys just let it  _ drop _ ?” 

Dick squinted at him, and Tim felt like he was looking straight through him. Damn emotionally mature big brothers and their all knowing eyes. “This is your intimacy issues again, isn't it? You know it's okay to let people into your life, and be vulnerable with them. I'm not saying that has to be sex. I'm not even saying that you have to have sex for a relationship to be fulfilling! Asexuality is real and valid orientation. But in this particular case it does sound like you're using sex to frame your existing relationship concerns.” 

Tim just opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the right words because yeah... okay, that probably made some sense. If he was constantly in a state of being afraid Steph would leave him, and she was concerned about how he would react to changes in their lives, then maybe they were both experiencing some fears of intimacy. Which may well take the form of avoiding sex, and, umm, other related activities. However, that was  _ not _ Dick's place to say any of that. At all. Just-- he'd no right to get involved.

Dick was scraping the bottom of his tub now. “You know who you should really go and talk to right now though?”

Tim groaned and slumped against the counter, already exhausted by the whole day, and it was still the afternoon. “Do I need to find Bruce and get his opinion on the matter too?” 

“Pshk, no-- what, are you  _ insane _ ?” Dick boggled, not even contemplating the joke and, in fairness, he was right not to. “Never go to Bruce for relationship advice! I did that once when I was twelve and I am never putting anyone else through that ever again. No, you dingus,  _ Stephanie _ !” 

Tim shrunk a little lower in his chair, his shoulders coming up to his ears as he tried to make himself as small as possible. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I at least owe her an apology for bailing on her like that.” 

Dick crossed his arms, giving him an affectionate smile. “Yeah, you really do a bit Timbo. Especially since she's still your date to the Gala. Trust me, if you think  having a fight with Bruce before one of those things is awkward, having it with your partner is even worse. This is your first public occasion together, which means you need to be in it  _ together _ .”

Tim sighed and threw his head back to look up at the ceiling, or rather anywhere but at Dick. “Why is it that you have to right all the time?” 

“Older, smarter, prettier,” winked Dick, popping his spoon back in his mouth. 

“You stole that line from Donna.” Tim shot back; it was a phrase Cassie liked to use against him as well, and she was only a month older than him. Maybe Wonder Girl and Robin friendships were just as set in stone as Batgirl and Robin romances?

Dick rolled his eyes at Tim, sweeping in to snatch away the last of Tim’s ice cream now he was done with it. “Well  _ of course _ I stole it from Donna. She’s even older, smarter  _ and _ prettier than me. Now come on Tim; go out there and make a grand romantic gesture worthy of all the teen films I make Damian watch!” He beamed, giving him a smack on the back in encouragement. 

“Worthy of a teen film you say? Sooo should I embarrass her in front of the whole school, or just randomly appear outside her bedroom window?” mused Tim, tapping his chin in mock thought.

“I mean, from my experience,” began Dick with an air of absolute authority, “there's nothing a girl likes more than having a guy clad in skin tight lycra randomly surprising her outside her bedroom window in the middle of the night. It's clearly the  _ height _ of romance.” 

The brothers spared a look at one another before bursting into fits of laughter. Their combined teen years really had been pretty messed up when you thought about it. Every superhero he knew had at once point appeared uninvited outside a window! It was just what you  _ did _ ! Maybe they should gather the Justice League together with the Titans and start their own Health and Relationships course. 

“What are you all laughing about?” Damian entered the room with Titus bounding after him. It was feeding time, and Damian was taking his new task of raising the puppy very seriously. 

“We're talking about our Movie Marathons, from back when I was Batman,” Dick said casually, not missing a beat, thank God. The brat was surprisingly good at picking up on lies. Somehow it seemed to be the completely wrong thing to say though, as Damian almost dropped the bag of dog food he was pulling out the cupboard.

“Grayson! I  _ told you  _ at the time!” The boy stomped his foot, he literally stomped his foot like an actual child. “I  _ wasn't _ crying, Pennyworth had just been neglecting his duties and it was  _ dusty _ . And anyway,” he was bright red, “I bet you and Drake  _ actually  _ cried when Nemo and Marlin got reunited. It was deliberately written with the purpose of making a wide age range of viewership all feel the same intense emotions!” 

“Oh my God,” whispered Tim, scared to say anything lest it all turn out to be a dream. “This is the most amazing gift I could ever have been given.”


	8. You're Pretty Messed Up Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hope that you see right through my walls  
> I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling” _Arms _Christina Perri__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! It was Eurovision week, and then my birthday on Saturday and my parents got me “Let’s Go Eevee” and… well… you know how it is. Hope this was worth the wait!

Steph was trying to distract herself from the events of the morning by completing her coursework. Of course completing her coursework was what she was meant to be doing anyway, and not just using it as an excuse to ignore her relationship drama. It was sort of a relief for it to be something normal for once. Their issues had absolutely nothing to do with Vigilantism. Well, no more than could be expected between two Vigilantes, but it was at least something she could talk about with her college friends.

She still felt like there was an elephant in the room though. An elephant wearing a cowl and a cape. They'd tried so hard to keep their relationship away from their work, but they were at the point where that was just impossible! They couldn't just stop being a couple as soon as the bad guys showed up, and pretending otherwise was having an affect on their working relationship. Gotham needed Batgirl and Red Robin to be in perfect sync. It didn't give a crap about Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake. (Mysterious Blonde and Tim Wayne were only cared about in the gossip pages.)

She buried her head underneath her text book and groaned. Why did everything have to be so complicated! What was wrong with having romance be like it was in the movies. Where the guy stood outside your house with a boombox, and helped you make blue string soup for your birthday dinner.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Real life was not like the movies. She wasn't living in a world of fiction, she needed to remember that. And if there was someone out there writing the pages of her life, then they were clearly a sadistic bastard, given all she'd been through. Like whoever was blasting music in the middle of the day. Who did that anymore? Had these people not heard of headphones?! She paused to listen for a second... well, at least they had taste. You couldn't really go wrong with a bit of Kelly Clarkson. Her powerful, confident voice was like an emotional balm for the soul.

She decided to just embrace it and started quietly singing along.

_ Guess this means you're sorry _ __  
_ You're standing at my door _ __  
_ Guess this means you take back _ __  
_ All you said before _ __  
_ Like how much you wanted _ __  
_ Anyone but me _ __  
_ Said you'd never come back _ _  
_ __ But here you are again

_ 'Cause we belong together now, yeah _ __  
_ Forever united here somehow, yeah _ __  
_ You got a piece of me _ __  
_ And honestly _ _  
_ __ My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

The volume increased as it hit the second verse, as though the player wanted to guarantee they were being heard. Those were some pretty impressive speakers though! She doubted there was anyone in a mile radius who wasn't listening.

_ Maybe I was stupid _ __  
_ For telling you goodbye _ __  
_ Maybe I was wrong _ __  
_ For tryin' to pick a fight _ __  
_ I know that I've got issues _ __  
_ But you're pretty messed up too _ _  
_ __ Either way I found out I'm nothing without you! 

_ 'Cause we belong together now, yeah _ __  
_ Forever united here somehow, yeah _ __  
_ You got a piece of me _ __  
_ And honestly _ _  
_ __ My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

Distant yelling started to come from outside; it seemed it was time for the neighbours to complain. Probably fair, but it was only four PM, it wasn't like anyone had to get up in the morning!

_ Being with you is so dysfunctional _ __  
_ I really shouldn't miss you _ __  
_ But I can't let you go _ __  
__ Oh yeah    


“Hey! Will you shut that whiny little bitch's crap off right now! If you're gonna play music outside someone's house than at least make it proper music you asshole!”

Steph gasped, and stormed over to her window to throw it open.

“Oi yourself you bastard! Insult the guy all you want but you leave Kelly out of this! Just because your sexist ass can't relate to her doesn't mean all of us are so narrow-fucking-minded!”

“You don't get a say in this, Blondie!” Mr. Asshole yelled back. “Not when he's on your fucking lawn! Now get him to stop or I'll call the fuckin’ cops!”

Wait, on  _ her _ lawn? She looked down, and oh, right. There was Tim Drake, holding a tablet up above his head. She'd seen him fiddling with micro speakers before, though that had been for Red Robin stuff. He'd clearly decided to implement them into his Wayne Tech too.

Stephanie just stared at him, uncertain what to think. He was bright red, a determined look on his face as he refused to put down the speaker.

_ 'Cause we belong together now, yeah yeah _ __  
_ Forever united here somehow, yeah _ __  
_ You got a piece of me _ __  
_ And honestly _ _  
_ __ My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

“Tim? What are you doing here?” she yelled over the blast.

“Making a grand romantic gesture. Is it working?” he shouted back, his face a little pained but smiling nonetheless.

“I don't know, there's still a chorus left to go.”

“Alright then.”

She grabbed her phone and started recording, she needed evidence that this was actually happening.

_ 'Cause we belong (yeah) together now (together now), (yeah) _ __  
_ Forever united here somehow, yeah _ __  
_ You got a piece of me and honestly _ _  
_ __ My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

“Okay you can turn it down now!” she yelled back, and he finally switched the tablet to a more normal setting. It was still playing now, looping back around to the start of the song.

“What are you doing Tim?” she asked again, leaning out her window. “What is all this about?”

“I thought I'd take some romantic advice from Dick, and we decided that appearing outside your window in lycra wasn't really appropriate. So I thought I'd try something else instead.”  

She propped her head up on her arm. “Oh yeah, how's that working out for you?”

His cocky grin was at great odds with his blushing cheeks “Well, you're talking to me, aren't you?”

She sighed and leant against the window frame “Tim, you  _ could _ have just called me you know. You didn't have to try and turn the whole street against us. Not sure that's really helping much.”

“Yeah well,” he shuffled awkwardly “according to Dick I'm an emotionally stunted Wayne with abandonment  _ and _ intimacy issues. So I thought it best I express myself in song before I could say anything else to mess things up. Um, can I come in now?”

A merciless grin spread across her face “Only if you complete this cliché by pretending this is an Archie comic, and climbing up our tree to get in through my window.”

“Or I could just use the door instead? Pretend it's Love Actually?”

“It's Archie or bust I'm afraid.” She sang, tapping her hands against the window frame excitedly.

Tim sighed and put his tablet safely back inside it's carry case. He began to climb up the tree, which was impressive for a guy still wearing a work suit. She picked her phone back up and started recording more. Bruce might not like the  _ Tim Wayne is Robin _ meme, but she certainly did. He reached the top branch, which was just shy of the window. She took a few steps back, and indicated for him to take the jump. He sighed and leapt onto the side of the roof and then lowered himself down through the window, landing squarely in front of her. He gave her a little bow once he was through.

“That good enough?”

“Well,” she reasoned, “if you were Archie, you'd have fallen into a patch of poison ivy as you attempted to climb up. But you're Robin, not Archie, so I'll let it pass.”

Tim looked directly into the camera. “I am not Robin. Nightwing maybe, but not Robin.”

“Oooh! Do the butts match! Turn around, let’s see.”

“Stephanie,” he warned. “Please don't put me through anymore of this. I have sacrificed enough of my dignity for one day.”

“Yeah, yeah alright. I'll edit that bit out.” She dropped her phone on her bed and looped her arms around his neck, giving him a quick kiss. “Hi.”

He rested his hands on her waist and leant forward for another kiss, deeper this time, taking the time to relish in the moment. Time stopped for a short while, as they let themselves return to what might be considered normal. “Hi yourself.”

She rested her head against his chest as he just held her. It had only been a few hours since that morning, but it certainly felt like a lot longer. “I'm sorry for not telling you sooner about the internships.”

“I'm sorry for reacting the way I did,” he replied, kissing the top of her head.

Steph continued to look down at the floor, suddenly afraid to make eye contact less she chicken out of telling him the truth about how she really felt. “I was just scared, that if I told you you'd, I don't know. Tell me I was making a mistake. Tell me I wouldn't be able to do it. Break up with me again. I know  _ none of that  _ is fair on you. I know that we've both done a lot of growing up. I know you're not that boy anymore. You've shown no evidence to make me believe that you would actually do that stuff. I'm just, I think I'm still working through things. I feel like I'm still trying always trying to be the girlfriend you deserve. The girlfriend you  _ want _ me to be.”

Tim’s eyes became soft, gently pushing a strand of hair behind her ear “You are the girlfriend I want, Stephie. I want you, just the way you are. I love how you're always surprising me. I love how you’re not afraid to say what’s on your mind. I love that no matter what happens, what mistakes you may or may not make, you always get back up on your feet.” his hand moved to gently cup the side of her face, it was such a familiar movement. She let herself learn into the touch, the worry and stress from everything melting away like snow in the spring. “I don't want some trophy girlfriend who's always trying to impress me or seek my approval. If I wanted that, I'd actually be dating all the models the papers are saying I cheated on Tamara with.”

Steph leant back a little bit, squinting at him “You--  you did call that engagement off, right? Properly?”

Tim chuckled, bringing his other hand up to gently squeeze her cheeks “Yes, Steph. Almost as soon as Vicki published it. They just love a good story.”

Steph dropped her head, wincing slightly “They're going to blame me, aren't they? When they see us tomorrow. I'm going to be the one to officially take all the blame.”

Tim tilted her chin up to look at him in the eyes “They might, the press are like that. But I can guarantee you  _ Stephim _ is going to be way more popular than  _ TimTam _ in the end because there’s going to be so much more content out there for them to use. Lots of chances for me to make a fool of myself in front of the girl I love.”

“I do have plenty of great video footage saves up, that's for sure.” mused Steph seriously, her brain already supplying a thousand opportunities to embarrass the whole Wayne Clan ”I hope you don't think this means I'm going to stop shipping  _ SuperBatGalPals _ though,” she continued, leaning back in his arms. “ _ RedBat _ is great, but there's better content for  _ SuperBatGalPals _ .”

Tim boopd the tip of her nose affectionately “I am going to say ‘No Comment’ on that one. So, can we talk about all this properly for once? Not in a cave or a restaurant?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

She cleared her bed of her various textbooks and notepads whilst he carefully took off his shoes and jacket, laying them delicately over her desk chair. Steph was absolutely delighted to notice that he’d also done the really hot thing, where guys roll up their shirt sleeves to just their elbows, like Darcy in Bridget Jones when they made dinner together.

He joined her on the bed, their backs resting against the wall and his arm wrapped around her. “So, Central City?” he said at last. “That's quite a way away.”

“Or Star City. Which is even further.” She sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. “I don't want to break up with you, Tim. I don't want to go through all that again, I'm not sure I  _ can _ go through all that again. I don't want to end up like everyone else, always trapped in the past and doomed to repeat themselves.”

Tim hummed in agreement, and she could feel it reverberating in his chest. “So what are we going to do? I don't want to lose you Steph, I feel like I'm finally where I'm meant to be. You make me feel like I'm actually allowed to be happy for the first time in a long while. You're my rock. I don't know how I'd cope without you by my side. But I also know I can't stop you from going, that's completely unfair and immoral, I realise that now. I-- maybe you were right.” he gave a sad sigh and tried to subconsciously shift himself away from her in shame “Maybe at first I  _ did _ want to try and stop you, but that was just a knee jerk reaction and I'm sorry. So, understand that I really do not want you to put your life on hold just because of what I might think or feel. I don't want you to resent me, I'd rather we just broke up than for you to start hating me again.”

Steph reached back to him and pulled his arm towards her, gripping tightly to it and refusing to let him go. “Tim, I never hated you. I mean, there are certainly times when you try my patience, but I could never  _ truly _ hate you. I've been through too much to waste my time hating someone I love.”

He rested his head against hers, but continued to look out straight in front of them, as if watching the most tragic parts of their relationship projected onto the wall. “So I guess we're in a stalemate? I don't want you to leave, but recognise that it's your choice to do so. You want to leave, but don't want it to come between us.”

“It doesn't have to be the end, Tim,” she said again. He really had a thick skull sometimes, but she recognised now she was trying to get through years of emotional trauma in one day “Three years ago, did you ever think we'd even be able to discuss this? That we'd be where we are now, holding hands and sitting on my bed discussing our future? Did you ever think you'd stop being Robin and become your own  _ independent _ hero? Or that I'd become fuckin’ Batgirl! No. Nobody did!” she gripped his face in both hands and forced him to look at her. His eyes were all lonliness and isolation but there was a spark of hope in them. A spark begging to be set aflame “All hat really happened though. If we can make all of that work, then why can't we make  _ this _ work? It's just another challenge, another test to see if we've really got what it takes to make it through to the end. Since when have you ever been one to back down from a challenge?”

He gave a soft chuckle, gently pulling her hand down from his cheek and holding it against his heart instead “Yeah, you're right. I guess, I guess it's just my turn to be frightened. Can you accept that? That, if you leave I'm gonna be needy, and annoying. I'm going to be calling you everyday and panicking for at least the first three months.”

“Oh how the turns have tabled.” She laughed, kissing him. “That's fine, well, actually, it's not fine, but like I said, it's all part of the test! We've got to learn to trust one another again, and to trust ourselves to handle it better than we did before. But I draw the line at you getting pregnant between now and then. I do not want to have to experience that from the other perspective.”

“ _ Pretty _ sure I can promise to not get pregnant.” Tim replied, giving her an unimpressed but still amused look. It was one she was very familiar with.

“Hey, this is a freeky bat world where anything is possible. I'm not going to put anything past Zatanna.” She wagged her finger at him, with absolute seriousness. That kind of mayhem wouldn’t even be the weirdest thing that had happened to them. Probably.

Tim sighed and rolled his eyes “Well then I promise not to piss off Zatanna. That better?”

“Much.” She kissed his cheek.

He turned to face her with soft eyes, taking in every ounce of her, as if he was trying to figure out a question to an answer he wasn't sure of.  “You know, I don't think I ever really realised how tough you've had it in your life, Stephie. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn't appreciate all that you’ve ever done for me.”

“Well, it's not been sunshine and roses for you either,” she countered, squeezing his hand tightly. “I'm sorry if you ever felt I was belittling that. It can't have been easy for you, growing up like that... and then your dad dying so soon after you thought I did…”

“No. It sort of really sucked,” he admitted. “Probably messed me up quite a bit.”

“But I guess we're both messed up. I mean, I dress up like a bat every night, and you dress up as Dr. Mid-Nite.’”

“Are you ever going to let that one go!” he cried indignantly. “Come on! It's a good costume. It covers my face, it ties me to the Batman whilst indicating that I'm my own person!”

“Have you considered just going back to the green tights? Or maybe a skin tight black suit with a red bird on it? Oh, I know, how about a blue suit with a giant red R? What about a metal bikini with--” She got cut off as Tim hit her with a pillow.

“I get the picture. I need a new costume. I'm actually already working on something, so you can stop with the insults.”

“Ooooh! Can I see?” she asked. “Is it on your tablet? Get it up so I can make fun of that as well.”

He rolled her eyes but let it pass. “Yes, it's on my tablet, but it's nowhere near ready yet. I'm still working through the Yakuza Vs. Cosa Nostra case.”

“Any progress on that one? Need a second pair of eyes? I promise not to abandon the plan without telling you.”

“Like you said, Steph, we're a good team. At this point, honestly, I don't just want your help, I'm pretty sure I  _ need _ it. There's got to be a pattern here, I just can't spot it…”

He pulled his tablet back out, the music from earlier still quietly playing in the background as he bought up his latest workings. He twisted it around and projected it onto her bedroom wall. That Wayne Tech sure was fancy.

There were a few common components between the two drugs, but they weren’t any different to those found in any drug, prescription or otherwise. It was like comparing Lions and House Cats. Though in Steph’s personal experience, just because a drug was over the counter didn’t make it any less deadly. If anything the drugs seemed to be the complete antithesis of each other. In any other circumstance she’d just call it off as coincidence, but the fact that they had hit the street at the same time meant that it had to mean there was a connection between the two that went beyond ownership.

The purple drug was some sort of enhancement. There were heavy steroids present, but it looked like it had been cut with some kind of amphetamine. Meanwhile the white drug was more of a relaxant, yet far stronger than anything else on the streets. It was mostly rohypnol mixed with really intense mood stabilizers, with a little bit of THC added in just for fun. She’d couldn’t imagine what that might actually do to a person, but there was no way of telling without running actual tests beyond simulation. Yet Damian would dismember them if he caught them doing any animal testing, and if they did human testing, they’d be just as bad as the guys they were trying to catch. Ah, the moral dilemmas of the biochemist.

None of this explained the connection to the families though. They could deduce that the cartels weren’t interested because it was too specific, but then why would the families be interested? More specifically, why were the Families being shown preference over the Gangs? There was plenty of bad blood between the two criminal sects to say the least, but most people were pretty committed to keeping the peace at the moment. Giving The Families priority over something this potentially big was only going to put it all at risk! They’d already seen The Free Men trying to hustle in on it. Sure they had been low-ranking members, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t spread to the higher-ups. Especially if they actually got ahold of some of the product themselves…

The pair of them had done some digging into the latest Cosa Nostra and Yakuza activity outside of the drug case, to see what connections they could make between the two. Yet once again they’d come up short! Cass had reported in that the Yakuza in Hong Kong were making more moves to legitimise certain businesses, with heavy investment from their American arm. Yet that didn’t necessarily mean it was Gotham doing the investing; they were a global organisation, after all. Meanwhile, the Cosa Nostra seemed to be putting all their time and effort into helping develop the drug. There were reports of doctors and surgeons being invited to dinner, with money clearly exchanging hands in ways that could never be proved.

Sometimes it really did feel like Gotham was a hopeless city. She had to remind herself that for every explosion, every stabbing, every theft, there were always more people running to help than there were causing pain. And most of them didn’t even dress up like an animal to do it!

Then there was the Calabrese. They still didn’t have a clear picture on what was happening there! The information Tim had unearthed on the Bat Computer wasn’t much to go on. The gang had been all but disbanded for ten years after Rex ‘The Lion’ Calabrese had been arrested and sent to Blackgate. They’d been pretty big hitters at the time, but had disappeared from the main scene all together. Rex hadn’t been popular amongst the other Heads, which was probably why he’d decided to stick it out in Blackgate rather than risk returning to the streets when there was still a bounty on his head. He may have escaped and fled the country of course, but there were no reports to suggest he’d done anything of the sort. Which was strange because it wasn’t like breaking out of Blackgate was  _ hard – _ even her Dad had done it! But then again, perhaps Rex had a better sense of self preservation than her Dad ever did.

It seemed as though the other families had only let the Calabrese remain as a warning to others. Don’t rock the boat, don’t try to get too powerful, or you’ll become just like them; an empire that once ruled the streets of Gotham and beyond, now reduced down to two street corners and a nightclub. Though it seemed their new head hadn’t quite understood she was meant to see all that as a threat. Two street corners had turned into five, and the nightclub was expanding into a casino to rival that of the Penguin.

Their new leader, this ‘Lioness’, was clearly trying to do things very differently from her predecessor though. Whilst The Lion had had no problem sending teenagers into the line of fire, The Lioness had made it very clear that any and all kids were to be kept out of the business entirely. So it seemed that taking them from within her territory was a threat to  _ her _ specifically. Though who  _ she _ was still remained a mystery. If the Calabrese had been absorbed into the Cosa Nostra, or even the Falcones, this might make more sense! But all reports suggested that The Lioness was here to stay.

Stephanie ran her hands down her face as she tried to make sense of all the data laid out in front of them. Tim had it all projected onto her wall and it all looked like a virtual corkboard without any centre. If they could just figure out who the go-between was, they could figure out everything else! She felt like it was all staring them straight in the face, two puzzle pieces that they could fit together to finally reveal the full picture if only they could find them.

Then she spotted something, a photo without a name attached. “Isn’t that the scientist we caught at the warehouse? Do we still not have any information on her?” She knew that the GCPD could be pretty pathetic sometimes (sorry Nick, sorry Barbara’s dad) but even they couldn’t be as useless as to not even get a  _ name  _ out of her!

“Sorry, that’s on me. I didn’t drop the information in there just yet, hold on a second.” He tapped his smartwatch a couple of times, made a flicking motion, and suddenly there was a name and a date of birth underneath the photograph. Barbara and Wendy might be tech geniuses, but nobody had better tech than the bat boys!  _ Her _ bat boy in particular.

“Diane Fisher, born November 19th, 1978 at Gotham General Hospital. PhD in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins. No previous criminal convictions, her Dad did spend a bit of time in Blackgate, but who hasn’t these days? Even Bruce spent some time there. Plus we both know you can’t blame the daughter for the sins of her father.” He grinned, pushing their shoulders together, clearly aiming for some sort of form of physical validation for referencing how much better she was than her father… but Steph was onto something now! She grabbed the tablet from him and zoomed in on the file.

“The thing is, Timbers, is that not everyone with a deadbeat dad ends up putting on a mask and smooching boys on rooftops. And if her dad was in prison, then I  _ bet you _ she's got personal ties to the Blackgaters! That's all part of their recruitment process, get kids of the convicts under their protection and they'll start seeing them as family instead, turn them against the cops in the process.”

“How'd you mean?” frowned Tim. “Just because their parent's in Blackgate, doesn't mean they're going to turn that way as well. Just look at you! Plus Diane went to college and got a PhD. That's not exactly gang material.”

Steph sighed and gently patted his face. “Oh Timmy my love, you ignorant, elitist little prick. Who do you think  _ paid _ for her to go to college? It won't have been her Mom. A family loses a paycheck like that, they're going to start going downhill fast. They'll be barely scraping enough by for food and rent, let alone textbooks!”

Tim bristled at her accusations, clearly feeling guilty about his assumption but being too much of a stubborn little rich boy to admit to it. “Well, that's where the Wayne Fund comes in. We recognised that. You got that, didn't you?”

“Yeah, and if you accepted the Wayne Fund you were marked out as a traitor. Plus it didn't exist when Diane was young. Bruce was still off doing his Angst Driven Ninja Training. Heck, he didn't even realise this was all _ a thing _ until Jason showed up and explained the poverty cycle to him.” Tim looked appropriately sheepish. It was always good to remind these boys just how cushy they'd had it of late. Even Jason needed to be given a privilege check every now and then, which was always a highlight of Dead Robin Club for her. Tim still looked a little lost though, and she gave an exasperated sigh as she continued to explain herself.

“Surely you’ve noticed that it’s really hard to get anyone to snitch on the Blackgaters? Even people who aren’t official members? It’s because their whole schtick is inspiring loyalty in people from an early age. They made it their priority to ensure you always had enough to eat and a place to live. They made sure that the kids weren't being bullied or attacked on the streets out of revenge. They were essentially a private security force, and if you showed promise, they sent them off to college in the hopes that you'd repay that loyalty.  _ Where'd you think all their lawyers come from, Tim _ ? Bring up Diane’s college record, take a look and see if there were any other Gothamites with her at the time. Maybe she wasn’t the only kid the Blackgaters sent there. Maybe she has a partner!”

It only took a minute for Tim to find all the class records, and another two to narrow them down. “There’s a couple there at the same time, but none on her course. There was someone doing Business Studies though. Kyoko Hagisawa… wait, Hagisawa, that's a  _ Yakuza _ name!”

Steph beamed, feeling the thrill of the case spirling up inside of her. They’d found their puzzle pieces, and it wouldn’t take much longer for the whole picture to come together. “No way in hell you don’t bump into a Gothamite whilst living away and not strike up an immediate bond! After all, no other place in the world is like Gotham,  _ especially _ back then. Doesn't matter what street you’re from, you leave this city you've got the back of every other Gothamite you come across. We're funny like that.”

Tim hummed in agreement. “So, you think Kyoko is the go-between here? Diane comes up with the drugs, Kyoko tells her family about it, they want in. But Diane goes behind her back, also sells to the Cosa Nostra.”

Steph nodded, “Like I said, if you're outside the city, you're best buds, once you come back it's every girl for herself.”

“So why isn't Diane working with the Blackgaters?”

Steph shrugged. “Maybe she is, maybe they're just getting a cut of the profits. The drug doesn't look like it would have that much street value, it's too complex, too specific. Best to stick with what people know best, focus on your Coke and your Heroin, and not waste your resources on dropping this kind of gear. If they can profit on it still though, find a way to lord it over the other gangs and the Families. They'll take it.”

“Which would also explain how the Free Men got to know about it!” Tim's eyes were gleaming. “Someone must have blabbed about it, told them what was going down and they wanted a piece of the pie as well. Probably didn't know what the drug did, just that it was expensive.”

“And you know who's been keeping an eye on the Free Men and the Blackgaters?” She beamed, Tim’s tired sigh pleasing her all the more.

“Do we  _ have _ to involve him again? I thought this was just going to be the two of us. He's going to lord it over us so bad.” He slumped back against the wall and looked at her rather pathetically.

“There are are lives at stake Timbo, and they matter more than your fragile male egos. If you want, I can be the one to ask and you can act like a grumpy grump later.” She pulled out her phone and dialed Jason's private number. Tim looked at it over her shoulder and frowned.

“Why is he down in your phone as 'Mr. Wickham’? And how'd you get his number anyway? Even I don't have his number! I usually have to go through Roy.”  

Steph rolled her eyes, putting the phone against her ear. “One - Because it really annoys him and Two - Duh, how else do you think we organise Dead Robin Club? Now shut up, it’s ringing.”

Jason picked up on the fourth ring. “What do you want, BG? I'm kind of in the middle of something.” She could hear shouting and gun fire in the background.

“Oh no, am I ruining your Call of Duty time? I am so sorry, and here was me under the impression that you could pause such things!”

She heard a deep sigh, and the noises stopped. “This better be important.”

“Yeah, we got a breakthrough on our drugs and kidnapping case. We think the Blackgaters are involved. They're getting a cut of the profits from one of their old wards. We suspect someone blabbed to the Free Men, and that's how they knew about the drop off on the dock side.”

“And you want my help in finding what else they might know.” She could just picture that smug grin and unnecessary power pose he always did with his legs spread open like he had something to advertise. She rolled her eyes.

“Yes,  _ Wickham. _ ” Ah, there. That noise was better, the spluttering indigency of a literature nerd. “We do need your help.”

“Is Tim there?”

“Yup.”

“Is he looking annoyed at having to ask me for help?”

“Yup.”

“ _ Fine _ . I'll meet you at midnight in the car park where you slapped Bruce.”

“Awwwh, you old Romantic,” she cooed. “Maybe you really are Mr. Darcy after all!”

“Fuck you  _ Kitty _ , I'm Lizzie and you know it!” He hung up the phone, and Steph smiled fondly down at it. She contemplated changing his name to Darcy, but thought better of it. Wickham was still funnier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were wondering, I checked, and YES you CAN just about fit all of that dialogue in the instrumental for “My Life Would Suck Without You”. Let it never be said my fics are not well researched.
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: So, my hardrive had a bit of a meltdown and now I am without a Laptop. Fear not! All the chapters are on Google drive but I now only have my phone for editing/writing/posting so I'm going to have to take a hiatus until I can get my laptop back to working .... 
> 
> I'll be putting updates on my Tumblr under the ' it2 ' tag as and when I have them =)


	9. Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I will show you how love is meant to be  
> Just watch and learn and listen to me” - _See the Day _Dee C Lee__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I am so sorry everyone! My laptop's hardrive got wiped and I'm still waiting on it to be repaired properly. And then it was just one too many Bad Brain Days after the other... Anyway. I've finally managed to get something together on my Mum's Laptop, and I hope you enjoy it.

Steph and Tim had ended up spending the rest of the day together. there had been a vague pre-tense of helping her with her coursework; of course, they'd not really managed that. They hadn't had any alone time lately, and there was that energy again, always boiling and bubbling between them. The thrill of making a breakthrough mixed with a good dose of emotional vulnerability made for excellent fuel for making out. 

She'd been a bit more forward than usual, taking the lead and pulling his hand up to her breast almost immediately. He gladly leaned into it, palming her through her clothes whilst kissing her neck. She'd pull him up for deeper kisses, groaning into his mouth, and he could feel himself getting hard. He moved his thigh a little bit, and she'd eagerly hooked her legs around it, her groaning becoming more intense. He'd forgotten how loud she could be… but she'd barely gotten his shirt buttons undone when there had been a loud knock at her door. They quickly sprung apart, reaching back for the text books and Tim frantically doing his shirt back up and hoping it wouldn't be too creased. 

“What is it, Mom!” called Steph as soon as they were more dressed, a pillow nestled neatly in Tim's lap. Her mom opened the door with a mug of coffee in her hand and an unimpressed look. 

“Hello Tim. It's nice to see you again. I wasn't aware that you would be joining us for dinner. ” 

“It’s good to see you too, Ms Brown.” He coughed, hoping to high heaven that he didn't have any lipstick on him. He didn't think Steph had been wearing any, but he couldn't always guarantee that. He knew he must be in some form of trouble because her usual response to him calling her Ms Brown was to remind him to call her Crystal. It seemed for the moment, first name privileges had been revoked. “But um, I just came round to help Steph with her coursework. She got stuck, see, and--” 

“--and Tim's so good at this stuff!” Steph jumped in. “Really the absolute best. I mean, he's always designing his own tech! I have the coding down obviously, but I just wanted someone to come help me with the mechanical aspects as well!” 

“Yeah! Mechanical, aspects! She needed help with those.” 

“Mmmm-hmmm.” Her Mom did not look convinced one iota. “How you kids keep so many secrets when you're this bad at lying, I do not know. In the future, maybe you should study downstairs, at the table. Where there's a little more space, and less things to distract you.” 

“Good idea!” grinned Tim. “Excellent, in fact.” 

“Yeah. It's just we were working on some Batgirl stuff before that, which needed to be in here, but afterwards, yeah. Downstairs, downstairs would be good too!” 

“Yes, well, I suggest you head back home then, if you don't intend to stay. Your father will no doubt be wondering where you are.” 

Tim nodded eagerly, feeling all the more foolish for every moment this dragged out. “Yep, you're right, I'm sure Alfred will be putting dinner on soon anyway. I'll see you tonight Steph? For, Batgirl stuff. In the Parking Lot, with Red Hood there the whole time so we're not alone.” 

Steph reached out to grab his hand and shook it firmly. “I will see you tonight then." 

Tim nodded in response, shaking her hand back before clambering awkwardly to his feet. Luckily the awkwardness of the situation had negated the need for the pillow, so he was easily able to make a quick exit with an equally courteous goodbye handshake for an unimpressed, but amused Crystal.  It had all been absolutely mortifying throughout, but he'd definitely been through worse. At least Crystal hadn't tried to kill him, like Ariana's uncle had. Though it spoke to his overall experience with dating that he had such a low bar for parental reactions.

He'd driven home as fast as possible and was grateful that Dick had gone off to see Barbara. It had been a very awkward dinner; Damian was still mad at him from earlier, and Alfred had a look on his face that told him he knew exactly why Tim's work shirt had gotten creased so much in a single day. He'd probably also seen the ice cream tubs in the trash. Meanwhile Bruce was only interested in their case, and offered tidbits of advice that whilst appreciated, were not needed. 

He did seem interested in their theories on the new Calabrese matriarch, but he didn't offer any more answers. Tim could see the cogs turning in his brain, his mind flipping through the various files stored in there, but whatever it was he knew, he clearly wasn't ready to share it. But that was fine, Tim was also neglecting to tell him he was meeting with Jason tonight. So they could at least both play that game.   

They agreed to meet up at the rendezvous point half an hour earlier than planned, simply because Tim couldn't face the idea of Jason having something else to hold over him. Yes, they were brothers now, but that did not mean they were any less competitive. If anything, it just made them more so. 

Tim didn't necessarily mind that Jason and Steph were as close as they were. After all, they did have far more in common with each other than the rest of the Robins, himself included. But he still felt an uneasiness about it all. Jason was a known killer, and whilst Tim knew that Stephanie would never go that far, he still couldn't help but wonder what might happen if they continued to team up. Wherever Jason showed up, danger was sure to follow, like lightning before thunder.

He knew he couldn't voice any of these concerns though, because he knew she'd just berate him and call him ridiculous. Tim was a worrier though; it's what had kept him alive all this time. He had no intention of ever joining Dead Robin Club, thank you very much, it didn't matter how good the drinks were. Steph had joked about getting matching jackets, and it had made his stomach lurch. How could they both be so  _ casual _ about it?  But then again, all Gothamites had such a relationship with death, and was there anything more Gotham than Blackgate Kids turned Robins? 

Steph cut into his ruminations with casual ease, changing the subject before he even had a chance to voice his feelings. “You know what's really bothering me?" she asked, biting the edge of her thumb as she made darting eye contact. 

Tim raised an eyebrow at her. “That we still don't know who's behind all of this, or what happened to the missing kids?” 

Steph shook her head no, and then hesitated. “I mean, yeah obviously, but outside of the case. About tomorrow.” 

“Oh.” Tim felt his stomach sink, he really didn't want to discuss this here and now. There had been enough emotional drama for one day. Open and honest communication was one thing, but there was still a time and a place for it. 

“I still don't know how to dance,” she sighed, looking more forlorn than he'd seen her all week. “I mean, it's a big fancy do! With fancy people and fancy music. There's bound to be dancing and I don't know how to do that! I mean, I can do the classic--” she jumped up and down with one hand in the air, “--but I don't think Alfred is likely to want that kind of music anywhere near his begonias.” 

Tim raised an eyebrow at her, though he knew she couldn't see it though his cowl. “No, I don't think House Music is really his thing. However, I can teach you if you like?” 

Steph blinked at him. “What, in under 24 hours? Surely not even the Boy Wonder can be that good!” 

“Okay, first, the ‘Boy Wonder’ is in no way that good. Lucky for you, I'm  _ not _ Robin anymore.” 

“No you're right, Tim Wayne's Robin.” she grinned, her previous anxiety melting away at the chance to tease him. That damned footage from the look-a-like contest was still going around. He knew that Steph was never going to let this one go… 

Tim rubbed his temples, despairing at the state of the internet and his girlfriend's role in making it worse. “I honestly did not see that becoming the meme I'm best known for. I do so much other stupid shit, and  _ that's _ the one they pick up on?  _ This _ is my legacy?” 

Steph gave a little shrug, failing to suppress her grin. “I for one think your performance at the talent show was one of your finest moments yet! The green tights really set off the whole look. Though I’d still say that blonde Robin made it look best. Got rid of the underpants all together, no idea who thought that look could ever be considered wise! Now, then, what was that about dance lessons Boy Wonder?”

Tim folded his arms. “Oh, I’m sorry. Now you’ve said it I don’t really think it’s very wise for someone who wore underpants over their tights to give the great Girl Wonder Dance lessons.”

“Awwwh, come on Tim! I was just joking around.” she let out a genuinely distraught sigh that Tim could feel deep within his soul. This really was affecting her more than he thought it would. It was just dancing, what could be the big deal? Steph kicked a small stone across the floor as she stared down at her feet, not meeting his gaze. "This stuff might not matter to you but it does to me, okay? They're all already going to be judging me the moment I go out there. I don't talk right, I don't walk right, I don't have any of those airs and graces. I don't want to give them any more reasons to hate me.” 

Tim felt his heart sink and grow all at the same time. He opened his arms and drew her into a hug, kissing her on the tip of the nose, the only part of her forehead uncovered. “If they don't like you then they're all fools and will not survive your revolution. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll show you some basic moves, okay? And if you want to have proper lessons, I'm sure we can organise that.” He smoothed down her cape and brushed his hand against her cheek. 

Her hand reached up to keep it there. "You promise me?" She looked up at him with watery eyes, and an uncertainty that felt so out of place on the face of Batgirl. Usually the costume filled her with even more bravado and confidence. He'd even seen her put it on to practice presentations in, so for it to all still shine through like this… it really had to be bad. 

“Yeah. I promise. I have every intention of having you as my date to every single one of these ridiculous events from now until however long forever turns out to be. So,” he put her left hand on his right shoulder, and took her right hand in his. They probably looked ridiculous doing this in costume, but hey, it wasn't like anyone else was watching. 

“Now, this isn't like sparring, okay? It's not a competition, it's not a fight. We're doing this together, but you're going to have to let me lead,” he said seriously, already predicting just how badly this could go. 

“Roger that, Red Robin.” She straightened her back slightly and he could tell she was trying to get into a more regal pose, the kind she'd no doubt seen in old musicals. He smiled to see her jump back so quickly, that famed Stephanie Brown Spirit shining through again. 

“Now, we're just going to do a basic box step, okay? What you're going to do is, take a step backwards, try not to trip on your cape.” She glared at him, but he noticed that she still took extra care when moving. “Now take a step to the side, that's it follow me, close your legs together, yup, now you mirror that. So step forward -- to the side -- close your feet! There you go, you did it!”

“I did it!” she beamed “I done did a dance!” 

He grinned back, giving her a quick squeeze “Yes you did, Girl Wonder. Shall we try to speed it up a bit? Backwards -- side -- close, Forward -- side -- close.” They got faster each time, Steph only tripping on her cape once or twice, though that was to be expected. Truth me told, Tim wasn't that much better in his Red Robin suit. He was used to doing this in a tuxedo! Though he supposed for Steph it was at least good practice for not stepping on her dress. She did tread on his toe a couple of times, but he was wearing reinforced boots, so it was better to get that out of her system before heels were involved. 

“You're a natural at this. You're going to blow their minds away at the Gala. Just you wait," he grinned leading her around the parking spot. 

“Doesn't a waltz tend to involve more twirling and dipping?” she said, only glancing up briefly as she continued to focus on her feet. 

“Not always. Overly complex twists and twirls are more of a Latin thing, and I don't think ‘Hot Sultry Temptress’ is really going to be appropriate for a children's charity gala. But if you want to be dipped,” he leant his weight forward, and changed his footing, enjoying her little breath of surprise as she fell backwards only to be caught immediately, “all you had to do was ask.” He grinned down at her startled expression, and he could see why this was considered such a romantic dance. Before, his partners had either been professionals, random guests who needed wooing, or Cassandra, who'd decided he was the perfect guinea pig for testing out new dance styles (though usually she was the one to lead). But having Stephanie's body so close to his, her mouth just a move away, hearts pounding from the exercise, yeah. This,  _ this _ was what fairy tales were made of. 

There was the sound of slow, sarcastic applause from the shadows. “You know, I can't decide if this is really cute, or really gross. I think it might be both.” 

“Red Hood!” cried Steph, her head stretched back to look at him properly, still clutched tightly in Tim's arms as his brain went into embarrassed shut down. “What a surprise to see you here! And only fifteen minutes late. That's got to be a record. Up, please, Babe. I'm only a bat in name.” 

He acquiesced, pulling her back up to her feet and then stepping away like she was something dangerous. She was, but that was beside the point. Jason's domino did nothing to hide his smirk, though it was more amused than vicious. 

“Don't worry yourself, Red Robin, I've walked in on Batman and Catwoman. Your little Disney Movie has nothing on them.” 

“You know what,” began Steph with one hand on her hip, the other pointing at Jason. “I mostly try to go about my day not thinking about those two together. So thanks for that, Hood. Really appreciated.” Tim could tell was using her instinct for banter to hide just how frazzled she was.

“You're welcome, Cinderella. Now, you two finished your little routine, or do you want me to come back later?” 

Tim could tell he was never going to hear the end of this. "Just give us the intel, Hood. We don't have time for anymore horseplay.” 

“ _ Clearly _ .” Jason snorted, but he did change his posture a fraction, getting back into what counted as business mode for him. Whatever Bruce might say, Tim knew that Jason took the welfare of the city very seriously. Nobody truly understood it the way Jason did. Bruce had a habit of always seeing the binary. He wasn't as bad as, say, Superman, but he still refused to accept the full spectrum. Jason had grown up in the grey, he knew that even the most ruthless of criminal acts could still help save thousands of innocent lives. He knew that Blackgate had a revolving door, and each time people went back in there was a higher chance of them taking more with them. Tim could never bring himself to admit it, but there were a few people out there he was glad Jason had stopped from ever returning. 

Jason threw a rough scrap of paper at them, containing various names and locations that Tim had a quick flick through. “Turns out you’re both right, Diane's been on their roll call for years. Dad went into Blackgate when she was eight, and the Blackgaters picked her up almost immediately. When she was sixteen, they even paid her Mom's medical bills when she got cancer. Usually they'd draw the line there, go full Batman on her and raise another orphaned child soldier, but she must have shown promise since they kept her Mom alive long enough to not fuck up her mental health. Looks like this isn't her first return either. Few years back she helped come up with some more enhanced form of coke that meant you could sell less for more profit. It was still all small time, things she could cook up in her college lab without the technicians seeing, you know? This though,” he whistled. “This stuff is major. It goes way beyond any of the gangs  _ or _ the families. It doesn't matter that Diane is behind bars now, she never held the patent. Someone bigger bankrolled her, and now she's out of the picture, this guy's profits are just going to increase and the Blackgaters aren't happy about it. They're blaming you two for it, of course. Which means I had to take a beating too, so thanks for that little brother.” 

“Excuse me if I don't cry you a river.” said Tim dryly. He didn't even bother to point out that Steph was just as involved as he was. He knew what the response would be. Dead Robins before Red Robins and all that. 

“What about a name for the snitch, Hood?” asked Steph, as unimpressed as Tim. 

“Oooh,  _ ‘Snitch’ _ , how  _ street _ of you. What next, you want the down low on a  _ narc _ ?” 

“If it'll mean getting these crooks what's coming to 'em then yeah, give me the  _ Four-One-One _ on the  _ sitch _ .” Steph replied, throwing her whole body into it and coming across exactly like a 70s TV Show Detective. 

Jason gave her a crooked smile. “You're enjoying this aren't you, Blondie?” 

Steph rose up and down on the balls if her feet innocently. “If I didn't have fun doing this, Skunk Face, I'd be Batman, and nobody in their right mind wants to be Batman.” 

Jason laughed harder than Tim thought reasonable. Had there not been a time when Jason had wanted just that? Where he'd been ready to kill for the right to be Batman. Tim might have forgiven him for the stuff that happened that night, but that didn't mean he'd forgotten. 

“See, this is why you're my favourite, BG. Anyway, back to business. The snitch in question is Trevor Young. He's new to the Blackgaters, only passed his initiation last year. He's got a bit high on it, and based on the fact that he actually graduated high school, he's been hanging around with all the folks working on the deal. They need someone who knows what way round a test tube goes. Problem is, Trevor likes to talk, he also likes to play Poker which are two very dangerous things. He got talking at a table, about where he'd been making all the money he was laying down. The Free Men were at the table behind, and decided that this would make a good senior project for them. Get them elevated up to the big leagues. 

“So now there's even more noise about these new drugs. The kids who got tested have either been all sent up to New York to the Yakuza based there, or they were given to the Cosa Nostra and disappeared altogether. Whatever's happening though, it seems like the tests have gone well and they're ready to start selling real soon. Trevor didn't give a name, or a time though, but he's probably not even going to be in possession of his own fingers by the end of the night.  _ Not by me _ !” he added as Tim opened his mouth to complain. “Blackgaters don't like it when you go to the competition. Believe me, broken fingers are far better than any of the shit the others might do to him. Can you not just trust me for five fucking minutes,  _ God _ ! You're as bad as the big guy sometimes.” 

“If you're done showing off that chip on your shoulder,” Steph interrupted, a sentence that would have gotten Tim a bullet to the shin, but just got her an annoyed glare. “What about the Hasigawa girl, any news on  _ her _ ?” 

Jason shrugged. “I don't deal with The Families. Too many rich elitists and I got enough of those to deal with in my personal life thanks. But they never mentioned her in their talk. I suspect she's just their version of Diane. Some chick who got indoctrinated early, and put her loyalties in the wrong place. She's not the one who you should be worrying about though, the sale is.” 

Steph frowned. “I'm still certain there's something we're missing there. You don't know about the new Calabrese matriarch do you?” 

Jason shook his head. “I know that Catwoman's been working their area, clearing away the gangs as best she can. Seems to be working in overdrive, to hear it you'd think she's been in two places at once.” 

“She's certainly been more area specific lately,” mused Steph. “She's not really been one to  _ patrol _ before. I mean, I know she helped keep everyone safe during the gang war, but she usually just does whatever she wants, right?” 

She glanced at Tim for an explanation, but he didn't have one. He'd never really gotten to know Selina, beyond the vague way they all did. She was a smart, sexy, thief with a chaotic heart of gold, and Batman's one true weakness.

“Maybe she's finally realised she can do better than Old Batsy,” suggested Jason. “No idea what she saw in him to begin with.” 

“All the bad girls love a good guy I guess?” Steph said, slightly doubtfully. Tim felt like he should maybe be taking some offence from that.

“Oh yeah, that from personal experience BG?” Jason addressed Stephanie, but kept a close eye on Tim. Not for the first time, Tim was grateful that the cowl covered most of his face.

“What can I say? You seen one gun toting brute, you've seen them all. Give me an idiot with a stick and a cape any day.” 

“Well, if we're all done here.” Tim coughed, “I suppose we should all get going. Let us know if you hear any more news, Hood. We'll try to keep an eye on it.” 

“Yeah, see you around, Replacement. BG - still on for Two Dead Robin Cinema Club?” 

“You know it, RH!” They high-fived before Jason put his helmet back on, and made his way back out into the night. Tim couldn't help but feel a little left out by it all. 

“It bothers you, doesn't it?” said Steph at last. “That Jason and I hang out outside of business?” 

“No, it's just, you have all these little in jokes. It's-- it's cute. I'm happy for you both. It's fine. It's all fine.” 

Steph laughed and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Calm down, Prince Charming. You're the only Robin for me, living or otherwise.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“Oh shut up! I'm not  _ jealous _ , just-- befuddled by it all,” he protested, but didn't push her away from him.  

“You’re so cute when you blush.” She grinned, “You get all flustered and don't know what to do.”

Tim tried very hard to keep his composure. “I am not-- just-- shut up already.” 

“Only if you kiss me.” she hummed, tapping her lips expectantly. 

“Well fine, if you insist.” He reached up and pulled her face towards him, kissing her deeply. His hand twisting into her hair as she let out a happy sigh. The night was still young, and there were things they needed to figure out still, but sometimes it was nice to pretend the world was simple. 

“Come on,” she smiled, letting go at last. “Let's go find some crime to fight.” She leapt up onto the ledge, her grapple in hand. “Where’d you wanna go?” 

“How about... the second star to the right, and straight on till morning?” 

“Now who's the romantic?” she winked, firing her grapple gun and swinging into the air.  He stood and watched her fly as she talked animatedly to Proxy through her ear piece. He followed the flash of blonde hair until she took a turn, and disappeared from sight. He sighed, and took out grapple gun and tried to line himself up. He hesitated, he could follow her, and they could continue their night of dancing, or he could chart his own course for the evening... He took a swing to the left, and chased the night. He was getting too used to their team up, he needed to start putting some distance between them again. A rehearsal for what was going to happen in the future. 

“Hey, Red Robin, you there?” 

Tim blinked. “Err, yeah Proxy what's up?” He’d first met Wendy as part of the Teen Titans, but after her brother’s death and her paralysis they’d not really found the time to hang out. By all reports she was doing an incredible job as Oracle’s apprentice though, and he knew she’d grown close to Steph over these last few years. Probably closer than they’d ever been. 

“This is a private channel I've set up  _ specifically _ to tell you that you're being a dramatic shit-head.” Yeah, she was definitely on Team Batgirl now. “You’re doing that thing where you think distancing yourself from other people will make everything hurt less in the long term. But that’s bull shit. Go after her and have some fun whilst you still can. Build some memories, you never know which one will be your last.”  

“That almost sounds like a threat, Proxy.” He replied innocently, imagining the totally unimpressed look on her face. It was one he’d often seen her shooting at her brother.

“Yeah,  _ almost _ ,” he could hear her grin. “Now go get her Rob, so I don't have to worry about any more relationship drama for a bit. There's only so much ‘Boy Trouble’ my Gay Ass is willing to put up with.” 

“Well far be it from me to cause you anymore problems.” He took a breath, and re-aimed his gun to chase after that streak of starlight. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out mrsmarymorstan.tumblr.com/tagged/it2 for details and updates regarding this fic.


	10. To Be a Part of It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is your story  
> This is your moment   
> Don't look down” - _Daughter _Sleeping At Last__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is fanfic and I shall live out my Bruce & Stephanie Bonding Fantasies if I wanna. 
> 
> [Reference For Stephanie's Dress](https://mrsmarymorstan.tumblr.com/post/126440880373/armaniprives-chrystelle-atallah-haute-couture)
> 
> [Reference for the broach](https://www.alexandramay.com/products/jonathan-lynne-sterling-silver-marcasite-and-enamel-christmas-robin-brooch-pcbr074-sil?utm_campaign=social_autopilot&utm_source=pin&utm_medium=pin)

Steph stood in front of the mirror in the Main Guest Bedroom (which might as well just be  _ her _ room at this point) in Wayne Manor, finally alone. When she'd arrived there'd been a sea of caterers, musicians, set-up crew and various important members of the board all looking for a private word with the Waynes before the evening got into full motion. Alfred had taken her coat and bag straight out of her hands and whisked her off to get changed. Bruce had hired a stylist for her, which she'd  _ not _ been expecting. It had been nice at first, being pampered with expensive powders and polishes, but it quickly became all a little too much. She had to try her best to hide her relief when they’d left the room to let her change into her dress in by herself. They'd covered every crinkle, every crease, contoured her to perfection so she could barely recognise herself. It was just too perfect to be her. She was used to wobbly eye liner, foundation that didn't quite match her skin tone and nail polish that got chipped ten minutes in. 

She'd been wearing a mask since she was fifteen years old, but it usually came with a sense of freedom. This wasn't freedom, this was a trap. 

She smoothed down her skirt and tried to calm herself. It was a beautiful dress, she'd absolutely adored it when she'd tried it on in the store with Dinah, even if she'd gagged at the price tag. Though the money Bruce had sent was plenty enough to cover the costs, including the special bra she'd had to buy to go with it. The dress was a beautiful lilac colour, backless, with capped sleeves and a lace bodice. The skirt was made of silk, with layers of floaty pale gossamer built over the top, with a matching lace trim along the bottom. It twirled beautifully, and made her feel like a princess! But now it just made her feel like a fake. 

She'd not noticed her scars in the store, they were just a part of who she was. She didn't notice them in the same way she didn't notice she had blonde hair, but they stuck out to her now. Thick white lines that criss-crossed across one another, snarled circles from bullet wounds and even monstrous claw marks that made her shiver to remember how they got there. Dinah had assured her that the dress looked great on her, but now she wasn't so sure…  

It was just an evening though! One evening. She could do that. She knew the boys all had public personas that differed from their true selves. Hadn't she just spent yesterday with the frustratingly formal Tim Wayne? She needed to create her own persona now, someone cool and smooth. The sort of woman that  _ should _ be dating a Wayne! But… Steph had never been great at the whole 'alternate identity’ thing. She didn't have the experience the others had. All she'd ever tried to be was  _ herself _ . It wasn't easy, there'd been a lot of pressure over the years to try to conform to whatever stereotype was laid out for her. But she resisted at every step of the way. She'd been a Blackgate Kid, a teen pregnancy statistic, a corpse on a slab, a teen moving to Africa to escape her bad choices, and more recently a college girl who fell asleep during class; but through it all, she'd  _ always _ been Stephanie Brown. Even if Stephanie Brown was a bit of a walking disaster. 

Who was she even trying to kid? She wasn't the kind of girl who wore a floaty ball gown to flirt with the rich and famous. She should just leave before she caused more problems for the Waynes. There was a faint knock at the door. “Stephanie, may I come in?” 

Bat- Bruce? Oh God what had she done  _ now _ ? She searched around for an excuse to turn him away,  but couldn't think of any good enough. “Yeah, sure, come in.” 

He always moved so gently for such a huge man. Of course as Batman he was all stealth and gravel, you weren't meant to spot him until he was punching you in the face. But Bruce was a different matter. Or rather, Bruce Wayne: Father of Five was. Brucie Wayne: Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist was all about being the centre of attention and demanding an audience. Bruce Wayne: Father of Five was much subtler.  He didn't stomp into a room, or slam doors, or talk too loudly. He wasn't very good at showing his emotions sure, but you could tell that he really did love everyone in his care, and worried about their well-being. 

“I thought I would come in and check on you before the evening got under way. You look,” his kind eyes took her in from top to bottom, “absolutely beautiful.” 

“You think?” she asked, turning back to the mirror. 

“Yes, it's very ‘you.’” He grinned, coming over to gently place a hand on her shoulder, speaking to her reflection “I'm so glad you're here with us Stephanie. I've -- I know that I've not always been the most supportive or welcoming towards you…” 

 “You think?!” she snorted before immediately regretting it and opening her mouth to apologise. But Bruce's smile was too distracting, and confusing. 

“I'm sorry if I ever made you feel unwelcome here. Both in terms of our public and our _ private _ family. I never meant to use you, Stephanie. I never meant for you to be a pawn, in all my regrets in this world, letting you down has been one of my biggest.”

She twisted round to face him properly. “Bruce, I'm sorry, I was the one who--” 

Bruce held up a hand to quiet her, though it did not have the force it usually did. “No, Stephanie. I let you down. I betrayed your trust, I used you to get back at Tim, and I never really gave you the chance you deserve.” 

Steph felt taken aback by this sudden onslaught of kindness. What had even bought all of this on? And why bring it up now? “Are we really doing a heart-to-heart right now? Is this some kind of a trap? Are you the real Bruce Wayne or just some alien matter creature disguising themself as Bruce Wayne in order to take over the world?” 

Bruce chuckled, it was a soft sound and it felt so out of place in the mouth of Batman. But again, this was Bruce standing before her, not Batman. Bruce, who'd bought his son a puppy in order to help him through his trauma, who'd taken Cass to the same ballet five times in the same week just so she could view it from multiple angles. Bruce, who'd formed a collective of the lost and the lonely so no one else would have to feel as alone as he once had. Bruce, who had a  _ freaking cow _ roaming freely amongst his grounds. She'd first thought Batcow lived in the cave, but nope! She lived in her own beautiful stable with a meadow, it just also had a tunnel built down towards the cave. The Batcave had a  _ Cow Flap _ . 

“I assure you, I am the real Bruce Wayne. I'm only sorry that I've spent so long hiding that part of myself from you. But tonight, well. Since this is your first time attending one of our public functions, I thought it would be the right time to… make amends I suppose. Say the things that needed to be said, do the things that need to be done. I really am happy that you are with us, Stephanie.” 

Steph hesitated, they'd said the make-up was waterproof… might as well test it. “Why did you never give me a memorial?” 

Bruce blinked, taken aback by the question. He'd clearly been expecting this to just be another 'Welcome To The Family, Kid' conversation. But it was practically Steph's mission in life to cause surprises for Bruce. He tried to cover his momentarily loss though, falling back into a stiff, more Batman-like posture. “As I said, I suspected you weren't actually dead, so it didn't seem appropriate to--” 

“--The real answer, Bruce. If you're here to be honest with me, let's be honest. You didn't know I was alive, I heard you when you came to confront Leslie after reading the autopsy report. You fully believed that she'd been responsible for my death. Maybe you figured it out later, but it would have been  _ much _ later. So why no memorial?" She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, out of anger or out of disappointment she wasn't sure. "Jason's been back for years and you still have his sitting in the middle of the cave. Barbara, Dick, Tim-- they all have their old costumes on display. Why don't I?” 

Bruce stood there, clearly processing her question. It both irritated and reassured her. He was taking the matter seriously, but he'd also clearly not even thought about it before! Did she really mean that little to him? 

“Because,” he began at last, “at the start, I felt like I wasn't able to process yet another failure. I'd once again been responsible for the death of someone in my care, and another  _ child _ at that! All because of my own stubbornness and failure to act. I wasn't in the right place mentally to process that, so I just chose to ignore it.” 

Oh wow, he was actually being honest with her! Shit. He must  _ really _ be taking her seriously these days.

“Then afterwards, I began to think more clearly. I realised there was a chance you were still alive, and that you  _ deserved _ that chance to live the life of peace you'd earned. It therefore felt that a lack of memorial would therefore be more appropriate. You'd moved on, and I didn't want it to feel as though I was trying to trap you back in with the rest of us. 

“Then, when you did come back, it was in the guise of Spoiler. And I have nothing to do with Spoiler. That name is all yours, that is an identity you carved for yourself. Laying claim to it felt wrong. It would be like putting up Black Canary's costume; we love her, we all care about her as if she were one of our own but she's not family.” 

Steph couldn't help the hurt noise that came out of her mouth. “So I'm not family? Is that how it is? I'm just Tim's girlfriend to you, aren't I? Tim's girlfriend in Babs’ costume.” 

“No, you misunderstand me -- I mean,” he took a deep, steadying breath, releasing the clipped anger that was encroaching on him. “I'm sorry, I clearly did not explain myself properly.” 

Okaaay… now _ he _ was taking the blame for  _ her _ outrage? She squinted up at him, trying to see if there were any changes to his face. If his eyes were a different colour, or his chin a little wider. Some sort of sign that this was some weird Alternative Universe she'd fallen into. 

“What I  _ meant _ is that you don't need us. You would have taken on the mantle of Spoiler whether we were around or not. Your journey is not the same as ours, you're here to rise up beyond the shadows of others, and prove that you are more than what fate originally laid out for you. Meanwhile, we're here--  _ I'm here _ , to seek vengeance against those who took all that away from us to begin with. To lay any claim of responsibility for the woman you have become would be an insult to your achievements.” 

It was Steph's turn to be lost for words. “That's-- that's actually really considerate of you. I still-- I still would have liked a memorial though. I'm -- I  _ was _ Robin. You promised me I was Robin, and that everything I did mattered. I was meant to be a part of the myth, but then when I returned it was like I'd never even existed…” 

“I know.” Bruce nodded solemnly. “I failed you, Stephanie. I'm so sorry. And when I came back from my own death-sabbatical,” he smiled at his own joke in a way that really was rather endearing, “I failed you again by forcing you into a test you did not deserve. You have nothing left to prove to me, Stephanie Brown, but I have everything still to prove to you. I hope to maybe start tonight? I have a gift for you.” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed her a small object wrapped in purple tissue paper. 

She gingerly took it from him, unwrapping it carefully. It was a slightly gaudy, silver broach in the shape of a bird sitting on a branch. It was engraved with intricate patterns, tiny diamonds put into place all along the birds body to mark out where the feathers might be. It had a deep black onyx for an eye, and a red enamel breast. It was a robin. 

“Is this-- is this real?” she asked, staring down at it. She'd thought the dress had been expensive but this was… it was  _ a lot _ of diamonds is what it was! More than someone who couldn't keep track of a pencil should be allowed to look after. 

“No, I'm afraid they're only zircon, not diamond, they're a far cheaper stone used in imitation jewellery.” Oh. She didn't know if she should be disappointed or relieved. “When Cassandra was here last, she had me go through my mother’s jewelry box with her, to sort out the things she might like to keep for herself and what we might be able to send to a museum. There are some very old pieces in there.” Oh no… “This one, for example, belonged to my Great Great Grandmother. I know, because when I went back to that time, I saw her wearing it.” Oh  _ shit _ ! 

“Bruce, this is--” she tried to pass it back to him. “This is gorgeous but it's far too much. I can't-- I don't--” 

Bruce pushed it back towards her though, gently closing her hands around it and clasping them within his own. “Stephanie, you are Robin. You will  _ always _ be Robin. You brought light into my life when I was falling back into the dark, even if I wasn't grateful for it at the time. You make me smile, you make me  _ proud. _ The entire timeline could be re-written so we never even met, so that you'd never even set foot in Gotham, but you would  _ still _ be Robin. Nobody can take that from you, least of all me. So, as long as you want the title, as long as you  _ want _ to be a Robin, then a Robin you shall remain. And this is the proof of that. It's part of my legacy, part of my family, and now it is part of yours.” 

Stephanie felt a lump form in her throat. She'd thought she was beyond this by now; she thought she was over ever needing Bruce's approval. But what she was discovering, was there was a difference between  _ wanting _ something, and  _ needing _ something. She admired Bruce, and wanted to make him proud. She wanted to be a part of the family in the same way Barbara and Cass were. However if she didn't have that approval, then that would still be fine. She would continue being Batgirl, and keep on doing an amazing job of it. She would never again let Bruce's opinion stop her from following her goals, but having his support and knowing that he cared about her like this… it was... it was a lot. Her own father had been nothing but hurtful and needlessly cruel, and whilst it was true Bruce had caused her a lot of pain over the years, he'd  _ never _ been cruel. A little mean sometimes, sure, but never cruel. It was a surprisingly nice feeling, having an actual father figure. She launched herself at him and held him tight, her head barely coming up to his shoulder. He seemed frozen, uncertain what to do, but then slowly wrapped his own arms around her and held her just as tightly. 

“Thank you,” she whispered. “It's beautiful. I promise to take care of it.” 

“I know you will, Stephanie. I trust you, and I always will. Will you wear it tonight?” he asked, almost hesitantly. “I would like to see it on you, if only the once.” 

Steph looked up at him. “Of course.” She let go and handed the broach back to him. He carefully judged where it would look best on the dress, and then gently clipped it in place. “It suits you well.” He smiled, turning her back around to the mirror so she could see for herself. It really did. Maybe it didn't go with the dress exactly, but that was what she was like. A patchwork of things that shouldn't have worked, but did. It might not be the height of fashion, but it meant something, and that's all she's ever really wanted to be in life, to finally know what it's like to  _ mean _ something. 

“Now,” said Bruce, running his hands up and down her arms. “Would you like us to come up with an explanation for these scars and battle wounds, or would you like me to put some coverup on?” 

Steph blinked at him “Coverup? Like, makeup?” 

Bruce's mouth twitched into an amused smile. “Yes. How do you think I go out to meetings when I've been given a black eye or a split lip? I've had a scar across my eyebrow that I've been hiding for years. It was probably wise for you to not show them to Amanda and Tristan, but that doesn’t mean  _ I _ can’t help you out with them.” 

“Batman can do makeup?!” she stared at him in the mirror, mouth agape. “Was that all part of your ninja training as well?!” 

“No,” he said, already rummaging about in the makeup bag the stylist had left behind. “Diana taught me.”

“ _ Wonder Woman _ taught Batman how to do makeup!?” Steph's eyes bulged at just how casual he was able to drop that magnificent bombshell. 

Bruce gave a small nod of his head in reply before starting to carefully applying the cream to her skin using a stupidly soft, and no doubt stupidly expensive, sponge. “She even gave Jason a lesson once, when we were in the Watchtower, and Damian insisted on learning as well. Dick used to do Donna's make up all the time when they were living together, though he did first develop the skill whilst with the circus. I'm afraid you have chosen the only Robin who doesn't know the difference between foundation and concealer.” 

“Well, there had to always be one disappointment in the family.” She laughed, accepting the prod to the back she got for her words. 

“What shoes are you planning on wearing with this by the way? Do you have cushioned pads to wear with them already, or would you like me to fetch some from Cassandra's room?” 

Steph gulped slightly trying to surreptitiously tug her skirt lower to the floor “Oh, Um-- I'm okay actually... I'm wearing flats.” Bruce stared at her in the mirror for a second and she felt her face flush beneath the makeup. “Okay,  _ alright _ , don't give me the Batman treatment. I'm wearing Converses! But last time I went to one of these things I ended up having to kick bad guy butt! I don't want to have to do that in high heels, I'm not Catwoman!”

Bruce shook his head fondly. “You’ve paired an eight thousand dollar ballgown with a pair of old sneakers from the mall. Only you, Stephanie Brown, only you.” 

 


	11. Two Steps Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Take my hand  
> I'll teach you to Dance  
> I'm swing you around  
> Won't let you fall down” _All About Us _\- He is We__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting in the Public Library like it's 1998 and I'm using GeoCities B-)

Tim and his brothers waited in the family lounge for the rest of their party to arrive and to start the evening. They would usually walk out together once everyone had arrived and stand behind Bruce whilst he made a speech, then lead the dances. It had been a while since all three of them had attended an evening together, since Dick was out of town so much these days, and Damian had the excuse of still being a child. But, today was meant to be about raising money for kids in need, so the Wayne Family Misfits were to be appropriately paraded. Naturally Jason was granted leave, by virtue of the fact it still wasn't  _ exactly _ public knowledge that he was alive, and there was absolutely no way Jason would ever consent to being shoved into a tuxedo and forced to make nice with a bunch of millionaires; the scummy, dirt-ridden variety of criminal was more his thing. Of course, Cassandra was also unable attend by the fact she was still in Hong Kong, not only doing an excellent job as Black Bat, but also as managing director of Wayne Enterprises Hong Kong branch. 

Still, 3 out of 5 orphans and a long-lost-son wasn't bad.  _ Plus _ a new girlfriend from the very same background as most of the kids they were raising money to help. It ought to be a good night, even if Gotham would have to cope with just Red Hood and Batwoman patrolling the streets, but they did still have Proxy for back-up, so they ought to be alright. Dick tutted as he adjusted Damian's tie. 

“Come on Little D, you're thirteen! You can't look so uptight all the time. Loosen this a little, untuck your shirt a bit, where's the rebellion? The attitude!” 

Damian tired to bat Dick away, but any movement just loosened the tie further. “I'm already wearing these damned shoes, what more do you want from me? I do not see how these sneakers are meant to offer any support for  _ actual _ running. I'd be just as well off with my Oxfords.”

Dick gave him an amused, yet very tired smile as he examined Damian more closely. This was clearly an argument that had gone on many a time before. “The point is not to look practical, it's to look  _ stylish _ ! Chuck Taylors are  _ cool _ Damian! Don't you want to look cool?”  

Damian pulled his whole body way from Dick's grasp and sneered at him. “If being ‘cool’ requires me looking like a slob who just walked in off of the streets then no. No Grayson, I do not want to look ‘cool’.” 

Tim leaned back on the wall and watched it all with great amusement, only providing commentary when it would be absolutely necessary, and would piss off the gremlin the most. “Relax Damian, it's just part of the charde. You can be a grumpy teenager who sneers and tuts, or you can be a miniature gentleman in Oxfords and a cravat. And there's no way you can pull off the second.”

Damian crossed his arms and glared daggers at him. “Tt, I'll have you know I am far better trained in etiquette that you could ever hope to be,  _ Drake _ . So do not try to tell me how to behave.”  

Tim's smile grew by another inch. “It's adorable how you just continue to prove my point without even realising it.” 

Dick was clearly far too focused on the matter at hand to play umpire. Not that Damian would necessarily throw actual knives at Tim right before a gala, but you could never be certain. “Hmmmm, okay, that looks about right I think. Just one thing left,” Dick turned his head slightly, making a clear judgement before reaching out and running his fingers through Damian's hair, much to the boy's own horror. “There! Perfect! What do you think, Tim?”  

“Very  _ Disney Channel Original _ ,” he nodded. “The paps are going to  _ love _ it.” 

Damian gave him a supercilious look. “Considering they're still posting pictures of you all over the place, I do not take that as a particular compliment.”

Tim rolled his eyes; it wasn't like he wanted his life splashed out across the newstands! It just so happened that corrupt politicians making underhand deals and brutal Arkham escapes were too common enough occurrences to sell papers anymore. Meanwhile teenagers in Armani suits eating ice cream with their girlfriend  _ did _ . Apparently.

“Oh just you wait until you're older, Little D,” smilled Dick viciously. "Just like our Timmy, you  _ too _ can reach number 23 in Spice Magazine's list of top 50 hottest celebrities. Although, I remind you all, I still technically came first in that!” 

Tim let out an undignified splutter at the mention of the survey, one that Conner and Cassie still regularly brought up to torment him with a year later! “ _ Nightwing _ came first, that doesn't count! If I always wore a skin tight costume with a blue arrow pointing towards my crotch, I'd be first too.” 

“Oooh! Defensive!” sang Dick. “But there’s no need to Slut Shame me Tim, I'm just giving the people of Gotham what they deserve. Anyway, I thought you didn't  _ care _ about these things?” Dick said innocently lacing his fingers together under his chin.

“I don't,” huffed Tim, acutely aware that he sounded exactly like Damian now. “And I still came in higher than Jason. How he even placed I don't know. Red Hood wears a full face helmet and carries guns! How does that qualify him for attractiveness?” 

Dick shrugged. “Well we all like a bad boy, don't we?”

“Not a  _ murderer, _ Dick!” 

“Says the boy who makes out with any female assassin he comes across.” Dick pointed at him with far more attitude than was necessary given the situation. Then again, this was Dick they were talking about, being over the top was sort of his role within the family. Well, over the top about the unimportant things. Tim was well aware that you didn't dress up at night and fight villainry if you didn't at least have some flare for the dramatic. 

“Ooooh! Are we dragging Tim for all his exes? Can I join in?” They all turned to look at Steph as she entered the room with Bruce behind her. Tim felt his jaw drop to the floor. She had her hair done in a plait that was entwined with little flowers, her floating lilac dress bringing out the azure in her eyes. They'd never been just a unified blue, like his, but instead a swirl of different shades all dancing together to form the beauty that was her eyes. Of course Stephanie could wear a trash bag and uggs and he'd still think her beautiful, but this was… angelic.

“Hey look! You're wearing sneakers too, Damian. That's a relief.” Steph pulled up the hem of her dress to reveal a pair of beat up purple knock-off converses, because of course she would wear shopping mall shoes with a couture ballgown.  

Damian's annoyance seemed to dry up a little bit. “Well, I'm informed it is the current fashion. You yourself appear very presentable for the occasion. It's good to see that you are finally taking your appearance seriously, I always suspected that with a little care and attention you could be considered moderately attractive.” 

Steph gave a melodramatic swoon. “Oh, Damian! Such flattery from one so young. You're really quite the charmer, they'll be making pull-out posters of you soon, just you wait.”  

Damian frowned. “That's-- that's a thing they do?” 

Steph nodded eagerly in response, grinning ear to ear. “Oh yeah, I had a Superboy one on my wall when I was your age. That's the catch with alter-egos, since you have no real known identity, your image is up for grabs copyright-free! Can't make a legal claim if you don't exist.” She tapped the side of her head knowingly and Damian's look of horror only grew. Apparently he had not even considered this as a possibility. Tim wasn't really paying attention though, he was finding it absolutely impossible to take his eyes off of Stephanie. 

Bruce frowned, taking in Damian's appearance. “What has Alfred said to all this?” 

Dick only shrugged in response, shoving his hands into his suit pockets. “Alfred is dealing with the caterers, so what he doesn’t know can't hurt him. Plus if Damian follows Alfred's way he'd be the  _ laughing _ stock of Tiger Beat. Totally a 'What Not To Wear.’ This is a  _ much _ better look! Totally front page stuff, _ trust _ me.” He put a hand on his heart and gave a solemn nod. Bruce, used to these antics by now, only raised an eyebrow. His eyes scanned Damian up and down again, before passing over the rest of them; who were all dressed in an Alfred Approved fashion. 

“Well, it would probably help us to have some paparazzi focus back on our more public personas and away from our private ones,” reasoned Bruce, a small smile spreading across his face. “Though I think by now I no longer count as an ‘eligible’ bachelor and more a 'confirmed’ one.” 

“With, like, ten kids.” snorted Stephanie, clasping her hand around her mouth as soon as she'd said it.

“With  _ five _ kids. I am yet to completely lose my mind, thank you very much.” He glared back at her, still with a great fondness though.

Dick moved over and gave Bruce a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Don't worry B, you've still got time to find more of us lost souls. And after all, we should all be listening more to Steph these days, she's the only one with anything close to a college degree." He shot Steph a wink and she gave an embarrassed laugh, but there was still that hint of pride in her eyes that made Tim's heart grow in size. He loved Stephanie. She was beautiful and amazing and incredible and-- Wait, had he actually said anything since she'd walked into the room? He should probably say something, something soon, something--

“Stephanie you look amazing and I love you!” Tim exclaimed at last, a little louder than necessary. Everyone turned to stare at him, and he felt his whole body flush. Stephanie was blushing a little too. 

“Thanks Tim, you look great too.” She gave him a small smile, taking him in from head to toe in a way he recognised all too well. It made him feel slightly breathless and the fliter between his mouth and his brain started to disintegrate. 

“No, you don't understand, I always wear this. This is nothing new, you see me in this all the time! You though, I mean-- you always look amazing even in sweatpants and a sports bra but this -- no wait, that came out weird. I mean--” 

Dick moved over and covered Tim’s mouth with his hand. “He means that he appreciates the extra effort you have put into your appearance tonight, and that you look even more smoking hot than usual which is impressive, since he did not think that possible. Go on girl, give us all a twirl.” 

Steph laughed, and followed Dick's instructions. The skirt spiralled out in a beautiful, rippling circle. He couldn't wait to take her out on the dancefloor so he could hold her close and twirl her around for all to see. He wanted everyone else to be able to see just how incredible she was, to take her outside and show her off for the world to see. This was the woman who'd apparently decided that  _ he _ was the one who got to hold her. He didn't know what that meant from a feminist standpoint; could you show off someone who was an independent person you did not have ownership over? Whatever. He was allowed to have problematic thoughts on occasion so long as they were only in his head and he always questioned them. Or at least that's what Cassie had told him. Internalised sexism and all that. He should probably say something else right now, since Dick had removed his hand from his mouth in order to applaud.  

“Yes,” he gulped, “What Dick said.That.” Smooth Tim, real smooth. Steph laughed and came over to him, pressing a kiss to his cheek that made Damian blanch to look at. 

“And it is very much appreciated, Boy Wonderful.” Damian's foul expression grew, apparently displeased that his title was being abused in such a way. But he'd also been privy to Dick and Barbara's flirtations, which were usually a little more intense. Tim found it hard to imagine Damian ever being called ‘Boy Wonder’ in such a way, but then three years ago he'd found it impossible to imagine Damian ever having friends, yet he'd somehow managed to make some. Sure Jon was Clark's kid, so their friendship was sort of inevitable really, but Maps wasn't in the superhero community at all! She was just a normal, everyday, thirteen-year-old girl, well. Okay maybe not  _ normal _ but normal compared to the rest of them. Who knew what else the future could hold?

“Is everyone ready then?” asked Bruce, clapping his hands together to draw attention back to him. “Remember the action plan, you can dance with your dates, but remember, you still need to be sure to spend time with the organisers, the charity patrons and most importantly the richest people in the room other than ourselves. Understood? Dick, try to get Dr Franklin, he's got a good nest egg squirreled away and he's quite the fan of yours.”

“I have promised the first dance to Barbara and the second to Tim's secretary but other than that my dance card is empty and ready for coercion.” 

Bruce nodded. These days, he took his role as patron almost as seriously as he did his role as Batman. After talking with Stephanie about the institutionalised issues that Gotham still faced that held back its development, Tim could understand why. You couldn't save a city just by punching people. 

“Damian,” continued Bruce, turning to his youngest, “remember you're a  _ teenager _ , so be as charming and endearing as possible. Think of it as an undercover mission, you're to infiltrate the targets and gather as much information as possible without revealing your true identity. This is a test for your persuasion skills. You've memorised those Pop Culture topic cards Dick wrote for you?” 

Damian straightened up, looking as though he really were receiving military orders. “Yes Father. I will not let you down. I swear.” 

Bruce nodded, turning to Tim now. “Tim, your role is to be the charming young face of Wayne Enterprises. Continue to show them you have what it takes to lead the company, but also remember you're here to have  _ fun _ . If they see you enjoying yourself, they'll also enjoy themselves. And Stephanie--” Tim felt her hand reach down and grab his tightly. 

“Yes?” he could tell she was holding her breath, bracing for some sort of impact. Tim kept a wary eye on Bruce, aware that his adoptive father too often spoke out of turn.

“Just be yourself: young, beautiful and in love.” 

They both blushed ever harder at that, still gripping tightly to the other's hand, but refusing to make eye contact with anybody in the room. Truth be told, Tim had been slightly concerned at what Bruce's opinion would be of them getting back together. Yet it seemed to Tim that Bruce had been not only expecting it to happen, but wishing it to. Maybe he had secret plans to form an army of perfectly bred second generation bats? Oh god… him and Steph with kids? Now there was a thought that needed burying.

“Oh Bruce, you old Romantic,” smiled Dick, elbowing him in the ribs and helpfully breaking the moment. “Come on, let us go and use our power as rich, handsome, upper class men to make some kids’ lives better.” He proclaimed, offering Bruce his elbow with a gentlemanly air. Bruce gave a small sigh, ignoring his eldest with a skill that came from over a decade of parenting, and straightened his own suit in the mirror. He shifted his posture slightly, and he went from their loving, yet emotionally closed off father figure, to the bright and bubbling Brucie Wayne that the whole world loved. He was more open in his body language,  _ louder _ , was how Cass had described it. It was strange, that such a free display of emotion could be a mask for everything else he felt. Not for the first time, Tim wondered if this was the Bruce that Dick had first known, before their falling out, and before Jason's death. He guessed he'd never really know. He could only work with what he already had. 

“You ready, Tim?” asked Steph, a gentle hand on his elbow. “You're ruminating again, I can tell. Everything alright?” 

“Yeah,” he smiled, looping their arms together. “Everything's perfect.” He kissed her cheek and escorted her out the door and into the main ballroom. There was a loud buzzing from their assembled guests, and the family (including Damian) all waved to them as they said hello. There were a few flash bulbs that he could tell were off-putting for Stephanie but he just squeezed her hand tightly each time as they made their way to the front of the stage. Bruce bound up their with a merry smile and took his spot at the podium whilst all the rest of the family filled in behind him. 

“Friends, Family, Honoured Guests,” he began, though of course the only other family Bruce had was Kate, who was out, busy stalking the night. “It is a pleasure to welcome you here tonight as we raise money for the Wayne Foundation Children's Shelters. Our city is one of greatness in the world, its history going back to the very  _ founding _ of our beloved nation. Yet each night, the most vulnerable people within it are left alone on the streets. Orphaned, abandoned, lost, stuck in a cycle that will never end. Now, my sons will be the first to tell you that I have a bit of an issue with collecting wayward children,” there was assembled laughter from the crowd, “though my daughter might put it a little less favourably.” More laughter, especially from the Wayne Enterprises cohorts who'd actually met Cass. “Yet it is not possible for me to personally take in every homeless child wondering the street, as much as I would wish to. 

“That is where the Wayne Foundation Shelters come into play. They are somewhere vulnerable children, who are lost, and alone, and frightened for their lives can find some sanctuary. Gotham is painted out to be a city of darkness, and at times it can truly seem that way, but with your generous help tonight, I think we can prove that Gotham is indeed, the city of hope, the city of light!” All around them the chandeliers shone brighter and sent dancing crystal patterns scattering across the room. There were gasps and cheers, and general applause. The lights had actually been Tim's idea, but he was content enough for Bruce to take the credit. “Now then,” said Bruce, holding up a hand to still them. “All I am left to do is to wish you all a pleasant evening. I hope to talk to as many of you as possible, but for now, eat, drink and please donate generously. Let the music begin!” 

He waved to the audience as the band behind them struck up a song. Dick skipped down from the stage, immediately going in search of Barbara. She was  _ always _ his first dance of the night, and Tim knew she would always accept, if only because Dick was one of the few people who actually knew how to dance properly with a wheelchair user. Tim had seen him pick her up and spin her around whilst still in the chair. He suspected he'd taken classes, which did not surprise him at all. Dick Grayson would go to any length necessary in order to impress a red-head. At least Kevin had black hair, so there'd be no real concerns there. 

Tim and Steph had barely stepped down when Tam Fox came rushing over to them. “Stephanie, hi!” she cried, reaching round to give a startled Stephanie a tight bone crushing hug. “It's so good to see you again, how have you  _ been _ ?” She let her voice drop to a whisper “Sorry for doing that, but it should silence them for a bit. They can't say you're an evil boy snatcher if we're best friends.” 

Steph's shock quickly turned into understanding. “Oh! Right, got you. Gossip rags everywhere. Sorry, I'm still new at all this.” 

Tam waved away her apologies. “Don't worry, I've seen you in action. You'll get the hang of it soon enough. It's all just different forms of espionage. And anyway, when it comes to press us girls have got to stick together. You never know what boy they'll be pairing you up with next.” She winked, turning to Tim at last. “Really great to see you too Tim, although I shall forgo the hug if it's all the same.” 

“No offence taken” said Tim, raising his hands in the air. “I've had my fill of everyone saying I was cheating on  _ you _ with Stephanie to want to have it turned back around the other way.”

Steph gave a solemn nod in agreement. “Yeah, the press don't seem to understand that you only ever date assassins.”  

“Steph, you need to stop making that joke! I do not date assassins.” groaned Tim, lowering his voice a little just in case anyone was listening in. Which they most certainly were. 

“I don't know,” she whistled. “Sounds like what someone who dates assassins  _ would _ say.” 

“He did seem awfully familiar with the ones who attacked me…” mused Tam, turning to stand side by side with Steph as they examined him quizzically. 

“If I only date assassins, then what does that say about  _ you _ ?” he retorted, feeling incredibly ganged up on all of a sudden. 

“I don't know Tim. Maybe you're just going to have to wait and find out.” She winked, giving him a slight tap to his cheek. 

“I give up.” He sighed, throwing his arms in the air dramatically. “Honestly you kiss one girl and--” 

“--Wait,” said Tam, turning to face him with a look of mingled shock and glee. “You really  _ have _ made out with assassins?” 

“One! One assassin. Maybe two, but that was all part of my cover!” Tim replied frantically, forgetting what Tam did and didn't know-- and honestly forgetting  _ himself _ how many girls he'd kissed over the years. There had been a lot… more than was probably due a nerdy kid with no social life outside of his regularly canceled Warlocks and Warriors game. 

“You see how he is, Tam,” Stephanie sadly shook her head. “It's become my solemn duty to take over the mantle of girlfriend and ensure that he does not get entangled with anymore of them.” 

“Thank you so much for the good work you're doing for this community.” Tam shook her hand and both girls burst into giggles. Tim couldn't decide if this friendship was a good thing or a bad thing…  “Got to dash now though, my Dad'll be looking for me. See you around!” Tam smiled, giving Tim's arm a squeeze before making her way back through the crowd towards where the senior WE team were congregating. 

Steph and him then began their cursory circuit of the room, stopping every five paces to talk to someone new. At first Stephanie had been hesitant to get involved, but by the middle of the evening she was really getting into the swing of things. You talked to them about whatever topic they wanted, always bringing it back around to the charity, gave them plenty of compliments in order to make them donate. And then when you turned away you muttered about maybe finding them a better toupee. They also kept an eye out for their siblings; Dick was indeed dancing with Dr Franklin, the man's hands wrapped tightly around Dick's waist as he lead him around the dance floor. Damian was in an animated discussion on puppy training with Grace Jenkins, a wealthy heiress from upstate.

“Oh my God, is that girl stealing food?” asked Steph, pointing at the desert table where, yes, a girl with a blue mohawk was stuffing cupcakes into her backpack. “I love her already. Can we go talk to her? Do you know who she is?” 

“I think that's Harper Row. She's going to be one of our new Interns at WE, she doesn't know it yet though. I didn't know she was on the guest list… though we do give them out to locals on occasion. We can't have a party on behalf of the city without inviting the city, or at least that's what Bruce says.” 

“She gets an invite to the swankiest party in town, and brings a backpack so she can steal food. Please can we go over and talk to her? I need to meet this absolute icon.” 

Tim laughed and patted her hand. “I don't think she'd be too pleased to be caught out by her new boss. Look, Alfie's dealing with it.” 

Alfred had indeed approached the girl, a kind expression on his face as he proceeded to pass her the tray of brownies to add to her collection. They conversed for a little bit, Harper's body language going from defensive to amused in the blink of an eye before Alfred nodded and showed her how to leave without being noticed. Well, noticed by people who might care.

“I love that she is the one you have picked to work for you. I am going to find her, and I am going to make her my best friend. You watch this space, Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne.” She grinned, a truly determined look in her eyes.

“Well, if you came to work for Wayne Enterprises…” he said it before he could even think about what he was saying. 

“Tim, can we not do this here?” replied Steph sadly. “Please we were just going to--”

He clenched his eyes tight shut and winced. “I know, I know I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, it was just an unchecked thought. Here, come on, let's go dance.” He took her glass out of her hand and placed them on a passing waiter's tray before dragging her off to the dance floor. 

She halted in her tracks, not letting go of his hand but not moving either. “Tim, I don't know if I'm really--” 

“Please Stephie.” He turned back around to face her. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of that to come out. I'm-- I'm still trying to work through it all and it was just there in my mouth before I could think about it. Now, please,” he rested his hands on her waist. “You look absolutely stunning tonight, and not enough people have had a chance to appreciate that yet. Call me possessive if you will--” 

“You're possessive.” said Steph, without missing a beat. Tim should have seen that one coming, but pushed on regardless. 

“--but I want to make every single person in this room so God Damn jealous of me that they donate loads and loads of money to try and negate how terrible they feel about it.” 

“Well, if you put it like  _ that _ .” drawled Steph, her smile returning, “how can a girl possibly say no?” 

He grinned, and went back to leading her through the crowd. She hitched her skirt up a little to keep up with him, and the crowd's amused laughs and sly comments did not go unmissed by him. There was nothing malicious though, just a general response of what it was like to be young. Tim hadn't really felt young in a while, he wasn't even sure what that was  _ meant _ to feel like. But he knew that he'd never been happier than when holding Steph's hand and hearing her laugh along with him at nothing in particular. He gave her a little spin when they hit the dance floor, she was a little taken by surprise, and didn't get the steps right, but she smiled, and that was the important part. 

The band was playing a mixture of songs, some with vocals some without. The singer was taking a break at the moment, and they were playing a waltz Tim vaguely recognised from some children's film. Stephanie was the trivia master, not him. 

“You remember the steps?” he asked, taking her hand.

“You mean from last night? I might not have Bab's eidetic memory but I'm not  _ that _ bad.” She took up their position and he began to lead her round the floor. She was still a little nervous, continuing to look down at her feet. “You know, I don't think there’s actually much difference between the dress and the cape.”

“Well at least this time you're not in boots. So you don't have to worry so much about stepping on my toes.” 

“I have been very careful, Boy Wonder; I  _ know _ I've not yet stepped on them, so please cease your slander.” 

“No, but I mean you can.” He ducked his head a little to look at her face. “The secret to all of this, is just letting yourself make mistakes. You gotta look up at some point.” She glanced up at him for a second, and smiled a little bit. It made him feel like he was glowing inside.  “There, that's better. And remember,” he leant in a little closer. “I'm pretty sure your feet can't be that much worse than a brick.” 

She rolled her eyes “Are you ever going to let that one go?” 

“It hurt!” 

“You were chasing after me! You pulled off my mask, I was well within my right to hit you in the face with blunt objects. The brick just happened to be closest one to hand,” she replied with great indignation. 

“Well you always were a great improviser. Want to test that out a little?” He took a side step to swing them round slightly, catching her off guard, but she found her footing soon enough. “Isn't it usually  _ you _ the one telling  _ me _ to live a little? Come on Stephanie Brown, don't you trust me?” 

“Despite all my better judgements, ye--- _ ahhh _ !” she shrieked as he picked her up in the air and spun her around. The dress flared up and out, just as it was designed to do. 

“Give a girl some warning next time, Tim!” she laughed, “Do it again though, that was fun.” 

He grinned and did, she was better prepared this time and her grip on him a little tighter. She kicked her legs out a little, and he decided to take the moment to dip her just like in the car park. She laughed throughout, and it was such a joyous bubble of sound. There was a smattering of applause from some nearby people. 

“Oh God,” said Steph in a rush, “people are watching us. Like, a  _ lot _ of people. With  _ cameras _ .” 

“Ahhh, so when I'm being filmed it's okay, but when it's you, that's a problem?” Tim replied sardonically. He knew that it was still all her anxieties about fitting in, but he didn't know what he'd ever be able to do to ease her concerns. 

“Don't be like that, Tim.” She'd stilled completely now. “You're good at those things, I'm just--” 

“Just a beautiful young woman having fun and making everyone around them smile, because it's impossible not to when you're around.” He smiled warmly, bringing his hand up to cup her face. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You know if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to be charming.”  

“Is it working?” 

“I don't know, the song’s not over yet.” She took his hand up again and gave him a nudge to lead her again. Another song came on, a little faster this time, and whilst Stephanie did indeed step on his feet, and stagger on her skirt, it didn't seem to matter. All the eyes in the room were on them, and he could tell they were all falling in love with her. 

The singer came back on, and she seemed to have a small piece of paper she flattened out and put on the floor beside her. He'd heard Bruce mention something about people being able to make requests in exchange for donations. 

She grabbed the microphone, and smiled broadly. 

_ "Start spreadin’ the news, I'm leavin’ today!" _

“Ah, how appropriate!” Steph said merrily. “A song about abandoning your hometown and going to a new city! So appropriate for a gala about how terrible a place Gotham is to live in if you're not in the one percent!”  

“It's a good song Stephie, just enjoy it.” Tim swayed with her a little more, the steps no longer seeming to matter as much as just being able to hold one another. More people were joining the dance floor now. Dick seemed to be doing some damage control with a fourteen year-old daughter of a business tycoon after she'd been rebuffed by Damian. She was probably having way more fun dancing on his shoes than she would ever have had dancing in silence with Damian, so it was probably still for the best. The crowd was enjoying it as well; Dick really was the new crowned prince of Gotham, even if he was spending most of his time elsewhere where these days. He'd started to sing along with the lyrics, making the girl giggle even more so. 

“A voice like Jesse McCartney, that one,” smirked Steph as he waltzed past them. 

“Oh for sure.” Tim laughed “You should see him at Karaoke.” He put on his best Dick impression. “After all, you can take the boy out of the circus but you can't take the circus out of the boy!” 

“Oh now there's a drinking game for you!” She was getting more into the rhythm of the song now, and it really was hard not to sing along at the chorus. 

_ "I want to be a part of it: New York, New York!" _

Suddenly she froze on the spot, gripping tightly to his arms. “Tim! That's it! New York, New York!” 

“Yeah, that's the name of the song? You... already knew that right?” he asked, feeling slightly puzzled. Steph gave him an exasperated sigh that seemed to engulf her whole body. 

“No you idiot! New York, New York: so good they named it twice. That's where the kids were being shipped off to, or at least told they were going! Think about it. Two types of drugs. Two Families. Two Gangs. The kids had to be gathered in multiples of two, their ages had to be  _ even _ numbers in  _ double _ digits...” 

Tim stared in her in awe as it all suddenly fell into place. They'd been so busy trying to find solid evidence that they'd forgotten the first rule of Gotham: the villains don't care about logic, but they do care about aesthetics. “Oh my God Stephie, you're right! It's Two Face! How did we not see it before?" 

“I know! It's been so obvious, I don't know how we missed -- Wait, hold on, quick! What's the date today?” she asked in a panic, her face turning white.

“It's the twenty-second-- oh my god...” 

“Whatever is happening, it’s happening  _ tonight _ ,” Steph’s eyes were gleaming with triumph. “And you know Two Face, his fatal flaw is his inability to resist an aesthetic. Hate to see what he'd make of that giant penny downstairs. Regardless, that means we also know the time this'll be going down: 22:22!”

“Steph, that’s not long from now, we need to get out of here!” Tim's heart was pounding now for very different reasons from before: the thrill of the chase when it came to case work, having everything slot together and seeing the full picture unfold before you. Getting to share that with Stephanie, seeing  _ her _ piece it all together just made it all that much more exciting. 

“Duh, obviously. We just need a good enough excuse. You got any in your back pocket?” she looked at him expectantly. He didn't have anything though, not this time. Usually Bruce would take Damian to bed and not return afterwards and everyone would talk about what an amazing father he was. However that really wouldn't do right now, why would they be the ones taking him to him to bed? And if they did use that excuse Damian would want to come with them, which probably wouldn't be the best idea. No, they needed to think up some sort of reason why the two of them would wander off together… something that everyone would actually buy… 

Steph seemed to take his silence as an answer, as she started to flip through ideas herself. A sudden look of dawning spread across her face. It was slightly unnerving. “Do you trust me?” 

“Yeah, always.” Tim replied automatically. 

She took his hands and placed them firmly on his waist. “Pick me up, spin me around. I want everyone to see what we're doing.” 

Tim looked at her a little blankly “That sort of defeats the object of  _ sneaking _ out?” 

“No, we’ll be hiding in plain sight, it's going to work. Just do it!” she snapped, resting her own hands on his shoulder in preparation. Tim took a breath and did as instructed. She kicked her legs out and practically screamed in delight. Her dress flared out like a flag and even the most devoted of Dick Grayson fans were suddenly staring directly at them. When he put her down, she pulled her body flush with his, and whispered gently in his ear 

“What we're going to do, okay, is find a very obvious corner, near the biggest gossip, and then you're going to kiss me like we're horny teenagers. Got it?” 

“That umm-- as fun as that sounds, I don’t think--” he let out a little yelp as her hand shifted to rest just an inch above his ass. 

“You want an excuse to leave that everyone's going to buy? ‘Hot young CEO who can't take his hands off his hot young girlfriend leaves party to find private room’ is a  _ great _ one! Now put your hand on my ass and when the song is over, we'll high tail it out of here.” 

Tim did as he was told, and they let their hips get a little more into the beat until it finally ended and the applause broke out again. Steph grabbed him by the hand and shushed him incredibly loudly as they fled the dance floor. Her shoes made as much noise as possible as she led him through a sea of people. 

A few tried to stop them to talk, but they made up ever more pathetic excuses. Tim quickly sent out an alert on his watch to everyone else’s, so they'd all get the danger warning, as well as realise that he and Steph hadn't left without due reason. One corner of the room was busy taken up with the caterers and wait staff, so that wouldn't do. They needed to be obvious, but not so obvious that it looked deliberate. There were a few tables placed around the edges, and some decorative alcoves set into the walls of the ballroom. One of which was in clear eye sight of Patricia Hampton, Polite Society’s biggest spreader of rumours and gossip. Tim suspected her knowledge of the goings on of Gotham rivaled even that of Oracle. 

He nudged Steph in the right direction before dragging her over, and pressing her into the alcove. “Now what?” 

“Now you kiss me like you mean it, Boy Wonder. The city is at stake.” 

“Such a tall order, how will I manage?” 

“Oh shut up,” she pulled him by his hair and kissed him with her whole body. He knew that this was all for show, but well, if a job was worth doing, it was worth doing well. He pushed her harder against the wall, resting one hand on her hip and use the other to pin her wrist above her head. She let out a little groan, that was definitely not for show. Her spare hand came round to pinch at his ass, pulling his hips closer towards her own.

“She looking at us yet?” he whispered in her ear, giving it a slight nip, before bending lower to spread kisses down her neck. 

“Errrr--” said Steph, he could see her throat moving as she gulped for air. “I think so, yeah. Yeah, someone's looking over at least. So we should-- we should probably go…” 

“Probably.” His hand moved up from her hip to cup her through her dress. 

“Okay, okay.” She breathed heavily. “That's good-- that's-- okay but-- city still in danger. Batcave needs getting to.” 

“Right. Yeah.” He coughed, pulling away from her at last. “Lives to save and all that. Shall we get out of here then?”

“Yeah. Definitely.” She grabbed his hands and pulled him along out of the room. They were stealthier this time, since they knew Patricia would be watching them like a hawk regardless. They disappeared behind the door, and it took all of Tim's considerable willpower to not just push Steph up against it for one last kiss. But she was right. There were bigger issues at stake right now than the one in his pants.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The curious might like to look through the chapter titles and see who else might be all about the aesthetic when it comes to giving clues ;)


	12. It Takes Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s so many wars we fought  
> There’s so many things we’re not  
> But with what we have   
> I promise you that  
> We’re marchin’ on” - _Marchin On_ OneRepublic

Steph's plan had been very effective, even if had left them both rather flustered. They'd been able to get out of there without having to come up with any particular bare-faced lies, and their disappearance would be seen as simply rude rather than suspicious. She knew they all liked to gossip though, so she was pretty confident that their guests would have more fun talking about their disappearance, than they'd have talking to them in person. 

She sort of wished she could see the rest of the Bat Family's reaction as they found out. Dick would be proud, Bruce exasperated and Damian would probably be rather confused until someone helped him piece it all together. Then he'd just be furious. She was kind of looking forward to the fallout. 

Tim stopped at the grandfather clock, and started to turn the handles to 10:48 (the exact time Bruce's parent died since he, too, was all about the aesthetic.) “Why are we stopping here?” asked Steph, “The elevator's further down!” 

“I thought time was of the essence? We don't have time to run round half the manner. What's wrong with the pole?” 

Stephanie stared at him in astonishment. How could someone so smart be so stupid? “I'm still wearing my dress, Tim. It's designed for  _ ballroom _ dancing, not pole dancing!” 

“Well, can't you just, bunch it up? Or rip the skirt in half like the last time?  _ What _ ? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I am trying very hard not to grab you by the rich boy shoulders and shove my knee into your crotch. This is an expensive dress, Tim!” She gestured at the whole thing for emphasis. “I would like to wear it again, and I don't think it's going to survive being sent down a tube in a cave.” 

Tim slumped his shoulders a little and gave her a weak hand gesture. “Well, can't you just... take it off? You need to get changed anyway, come on Steph! We still need to figure out where they're planning the sale.” 

Steph glared at him as she spoke through gritted teeth. “Fine. Give me your shirt and jacket. I am not going down there naked.” She held out her hand and he gawked at her for a minute, before huffing and going about taking off his jacket and button-down. It was the angriest stripping she'd seen in a while. 

“Alright, your turn now.” He stood there shirtless and fuming slightly which, she had to admit, was a very cute look on him. 

“Ha! You wish, Boy Wonder." She smirked, clutching his clothes tightly to her chest. "I'm not stripping out here. You head down, I'm gonna go change in a room like a normal person. Or you can wait here for me to get back, and explain to the caterers why you're standing in the middle of the corridor without your shirt on.” 

Tim's cheeks puffed out in embarrassed defiance. “Fine but just hurry up already.” He opened up the entrance way and slid down the pole with as much grace as he could muster. It closed automatically behind him, and she darted off to find an empty, unused room to get her dress off. She found what she thought might be Bruce's study? Which would do well enough. She dumped the dress as quickly she could, leaving it draped over Bruce's (?) desk. That would be a fun one to explain to anyone who might drop in later. 

Tim's shirt was simultaneously too big and too small. It fell beyond her crotch (which was probably a good thing) but the top buttons refused to shut properly. She tried to wrangle her boobs a bit better within her weird bra so they'd at least sit a bit more comfortably. It was more like two silicone cups than a bra, but it did the job of keeping her tits up whilst still being able to wear a backless dress. Not that was much good now. Screw it, unbuttoned shirt with suit jacket on top was a hot look anyway. She didn't have pants, but was happy enough to Risky Business it for the short time it took to dash back out the grandfather clock. She sighed as she looked at the pole... these were the only tights she owned that didn't have a ladder in them. Guess that was about to change. The things she did for the people of this city…

When she got down to the cave, Tim was already sitting at the computer pulling up everything they already knew in order to try and find the correct location for the sale. He was still shirtless, wearing only his suit pants. It was a very good look on him. “Got anything yet?” she asked, leaning on the console to check some of the screens more closely, and to give her boyfriend a flash of her tits. 

Tim's eyes didn't leave the screens though, which was probably for the best in the long run. “Not got anything yet. Though now we know it’s Two Face it should be easier. He likes to think of himself as classy, a step above the others, so it probably won’t be in a warehouse but neither in a five star hotel. Which still leaves us most of the city, of course.”

Steph, moved to rest her hands on his shoulders as she examined the screen directly in front of him, skimming the data as he processed it, to see if he'd missed anything. “Remember, it’s all about the aesthetic. So what about 22nd Street? 22 story buildings? Is there a two floor house that sits on the junction of two streets owned by two sets of twins for two hundred years?” She was half joking, but that only meant she was half serious as well. Appropriate, really. 

Tim made a humming noise as they continued to search the database. “No twins, but it'll crop up one of these days, he must be getting low on options by now. I think it'll still take place somewhere relatively sensible. Still, two is our magic number.” They still didn't have a lot to go on beyond that of any common-or-garden supervillain. It needed to be somewhere big enough to hide both test subjects and product, in neutral gang territory, with easy road access should they need to make a getaway. Or even a helicopter landing pad, though those were a little harder to get a hold of in Gotham. Unless you were a Wayne, of course. The search was mostly left to Tim, since he was the best at processing lots of data very quickly, but Steph managed to chime in every now and then, pointing out features that may or may not exclude buildings from their enquiries.  She kept glancing at Tim's watch, seeing the time tick down; they'd left the party at nine, and it was now nine thirty, they were running out of time! Two Face had been planning this for months and months, there wasn't a single thing he wouldn't have planned out! There were thousands of possible locations, and they had nothing to go on other than some lunatic’s weird fetish for-- 

No. Wait. They had more than that though, didn't they? They already knew where all the kids were taken to, but it had just been a random old building. What else had Sara said about it? Steph pulled out her phone and checked her notes. “Hey, try looking up Gotham theatres near laundromats. Probably about twenty minutes from the Calabrese base.” 

Tim ran a quick search and pulled a couple of likely candidates. There were a surprising number of theatres in Gotham, thanks to a really well-funded arts program. The city was always a stop off point for any touring production company! Even if it meant their insurance premiums went through the roof. There were a couple of possible candidates, but Sara had said they’d come there by car and judging by her descriptions the building they’d been taken to must have had multiple stories,  _ and  _ a parking lot out back. That narrowed it down even further. She flicked through some more possible venues and then spotted it! The William Finger Theatre, on twenty second street. The logo for the theatre was a split theatre mask! Aesthetic. It always came down to the aesthetic. 

She felt the thrill of the chase rise up in her again, “That’s where they must be having the sale. Big open stage, bright lights, absolute dramatics with enough space for everyone who wants to put a bid in.” She loved watching the puzzle come together, the rush of exhilaration at finding and solving each clue never went away.

Tim nodded, and started to program a route into his wrist computer. “It’ll take about half an hour to get there, but we still need a way inside.” Tim began forming a 3D turn around of the bundling to examine the entrances and exists with more care, but Steph held up a hand to stop him. 

“Already got you covered on this one, Timbo. Hey, Proxy, you spying on us?” Steph asked the room in general and then one of the screens on the right flickered for a second before showing Wendy’s face.

“What can I say, you trip the switch in the cave, I’m gonna start listening in. Do you guys always sit around in there half naked?” she said in mild disgust, eyeing them both up and down.

“Nope, this is all for your benefit, Prox.” winked Steph, earning herself an eye roll from Wendy and a groan from Tim. 

Wendy continued on ignoring Steph's comment for the most part though. One day she’d come around to Steph's sense of humour. "Either way, I suggest the two of you go suit up and leave this weird kink stuff for afterwards. I’ve got you a way in there, I’ll send the coordinates to your bikes--”

“--Would we call Ricochet a bike? It’s really more of a space-age trike,” mused Steph. She’d been offered a Bat-cycle of her own, but she’d got accustomed to Ricochet. She was just as much a part of Team Batgirl as the rest of them, and she couldn’t imagine switching her out for any of those high-tech bat-boy gadget-cycles. 

“To your  _ vehicles _ then.” Wendy rolled her eyes again; she did that a lot when Steph was around, “and I’ll fill you in on the rest on your way there. Now, go put some clothes on and save the city, or whatever. God, and here was me thinking I might be treated to a quiet night.” 

“In Gotham? No such thing,” laughed Steph, clicking her off the main screen and turning to Tim. “Well you heard the lady, time to suit up!” Steph slipped out of the shirt and handed it back to him before walking towards the changing rooms. She enjoyed the way his mouth fell open and his body seemed to freeze still at the sight of her more-than-half naked figure. Sure, they were on a bit of a time limit, but sometimes you did just need to take every opportunity at hand to make your boy blush. 

They still had a mission at hand though, and they were fully suited up and speeding out the cave in three minutes flat. Practice really did make perfect. 

Wendy had already programmed in their routes, making Tim only  _ slightly _ irritated that she’d managed to break past his security systems in a matter of seconds. It wasn’t that his weren’t very impressive! They were, they were the best in the family outside of Oracle, which was precisely why Babs used his systems to teach Wendy how to hack. The Pentagon had been proved  _ worryingly  _ easy, and apparently it was just more fun when you weren’t given permission. They knew the stage door was going to be heavily guarded, and there was no way of getting past there and using the front door was the kind of move only Red Hood would think sensible. Yet Proxy found something rather interesting. 

The schematics showed that there was an underground level of the theatre, that had been intended to be renovated into more changing rooms, but the theatre had gone bust before they could do anything about it and continued to use it as storage. In the past, the Cobblepots had owned half the land in the city, and as such had built interconnected tunnels running throughout the city to help them smuggle things in and out. They had a hand in every illegal bar in the city, and to no surprise, the William Finger Theatre had been one of them! Which meant that unused level probably contained a secret entrance, and since nobody really knew about this tunnels outside of dedicated spelunkers and the Bats themselves, it would probably be completely unguarded. If it was still there, of course. But in Steph’s experience of Gotham, if the legend said there was an underground entrance, chances were there  _ was  _ one. 

They left their bikes a couple of blocks away from the theatre, and dived into the sewers. It was concerning just how quickly Steph had adapted to the smell of sewage. She was practically immune to it all now, which was saying something given that the sewage you got in Gotham was the kind that turned you into crazed franken-monsters. They had to trail along inside the sewer for a little while until they found the correct pathway into the smuggling tunnels, but eventually they found the correct coordinates. There was a slight incline upwards, and then a tiny grate that looked like it was designed for drainage. However on closer inspection the grate was just a hand hold point that allowed for the whole subsection of floor to be removed so illegal goods could be transferred upwards with no issue. They had, indeed, got lucky and it seemed nobody had sealed it off in the ninety years since it had last been used! 

Tim pulled out a small device from his pouch, no bigger than his thumb and started to sync it up to his wrist computer. “I call it the red bug.” he explained at Stephanie’s look of interest. “It’s a micro drone, should be small enough to go undetected. I’ve been developing the tech over at Wayne Enterprises for search and rescue purposes? But it should do alright as a spy drone as well.” He grinned, setting it down on the floor and then controlling it with his wrist computer so it scuttled up the wall in an all too realistic fashion and then up past the grate and into the building.

“Red Bug, huh?” she raised an eyebrow. “So you're copying from Blue Beetle now _ as well as _ Dr Mid-Nite?” 

“Would it really hurt you to be supportive once in a while?” he sighed, fiddling with the controls.

“I am very supportive of you Boyfriend Wonderful! I just think you need to get a new brand manager. Other than that, you can colour me impressed! I assume the video comes on the wrist computer, as a hologram right?” Steph asked, waiting for the picture to appear. “That’ll give us a 3D image of the surroundings and let give us a better idea of what we’ll be facing in there! You really  _ are _ a genius, boy wonder.” She gave him a playful shove. 

“Well that is much better, thank you. But hold your praise, that’s not all I’ve got in store for you.” He winked, pulling out a pair of goggles and handing them over to her. She warily put them on and let her eyes adjust for a second before letting out a gasp. 

“Oh my God, it’s  _ VR _ !” She twisted her head and saw the room from above shift at the same time. “Proxy are you seeing this? This is incredible!” 

Tim made a slightly apologetic noise. “Sorry, it's a prototype so I've not even added the program to the Batcomputer yet, meaning there's no way Firewall will--”

“--Yeah I’ve got it Batgirl.” Proxy’s voice interrupted over the comms. “You really gotta change your passwords more often, Red Robin. I can access control from here if you like,” she continued. “I’ve got the schematic next to me so it should be easier to guide it through. Wow Red Robin, I see you’ve already set up the cowl’s lenses for VR. That’s impressive, give me a moment and I’ll turn them on for you.” Steph had already taken off the goggles to pass them back to Tim so he could use them, and was very glad she had because the look on his face was absolutely priceless. She wanted him to have his moment, but it was still fun to see his face twist into exasperation and disappointment  when it wasn’t her responsible. 

To his credit though, he only pouted a little bit. “I think Oracle might have been a bad influence on you, Proxy. I swear you were never this sassy when you were still with the Teen Titans.” 

“What can I say, grief changes you… that’s a  _ joke _ , Red Robin, no need for an aneurysm.” She sighed, making Steph giggle. Tim really had missed out by not hanging out with Wendy, he was very busy these days though, so it could be forgiven. Actually, she wasn’t entirely sure when the last time he’d voluntarily hung out with someone who  _ wasn’t _ an official Bat? 

Tim ignored them both and pressed a button on the side of his cowl that clicked his lenses into a dark black, making him look even creepier than before. She couldn’t understand the Bat Boys’ obsessions with blank eyes; how could people trust you if they couldn’t look you in the eye? At least her original full face mask had been about not being found out by her dad. She didn’t think a domino mask would do much to hide her identity from the guy who raised her and specialised in riddles and mysteries. It was why she’d always suspected the Commissioner was fully aware that Barbara had been the first Batgirl, he’d just refused to say anything about it for fear of what might happen if the world in general found out. She remembered those early days, when Tim and her had first started dating… he’d refused to ever been seen without his mask on. She’d gone so long without ever knowing those beautiful pale blue eyes… it all seemed like a lifetime ago. 

The Red Bug made its way through the basement above, exploring each alcove. The grate was in the far left of the room, a few old metal beer barrels still stacked nearby from when this place had still been a functioning theatre. The room wasn’t pitch black, but dimly lit by tired looking fluorescent lights across the ceiling. The room looked pretty barren, but there was a guard sitting in the corner who was just skimming through his phone. A moment later a holographic sign pointed up on the corner of Steph’s vision detailing his full personal data, the pinterest pages he was looking at, and that his battery was only at 26% which wouldn’t last the rest of the night.  

The Red Bug scuttled across the corners of the room, ducking under a few crooked door frames to discover an old boiler room that wasn’t hiding anything other than some perturbed-looking cockroaches. They seemed almost gigantic in the VR view, and Stephanie probably would have screamed if she hadn’t, unfortunately, fought against much bigger. The drone scuttled a little closer to the guard, trying to take in what it could without being noticed. Luckily, the guy was  _ really  _ interested in the home-made scented candle tutorial and didn’t care about the robotic insect crawling beneath the chair. At first glance it just looked like they were leaning against a brick wall, but there was just the slightest hint of light at a crack in the bottom that revealed that it was all a false wall. Proxy’s voice came over their headset to confirm that the basement was much larger in the original city plans, but the wall was too thick to get any read through. Which obviously meant that that was exactly where they needed to be. 

That couldn’t be the end of it though. For one it would be way too simple for this to just be a quick in-and-out mission. They needed more information, and so Tim directed the drone back along the way and up towards the stairs. It crawled through the gap in a locked door and then up into what would have been the main foyer. The VR system was sophisticated, and really did make Steph feel as though she was in the room… and trapped in the middle of a gathering between the families. Everyone was there, not just Yakuza and Cosa Nostra but Sabatino and Ibanescu and Maroni and oh so many more... She even recognised some of the gang leaders who’d clearly elbowed their way into the event judging by the looks they were being given by The Families. And there she was, stuck in the middle of it all, powerless to do anything.

She kept flashing back to that fateful night when she’d last seen this many gang leaders in one room, the night everything had gone wrong and her stupid idiotic need to prove herself had started the worst gang war in Gotham history. When she'd sat and saw them murder one another in cold blood all because she'd not bothered to look into Matches Malone… because Batman hadn't trusted her enough to tell her the truth: that  _ he was _ Matches Malone and that without him there was no hope for success. She was just the useless daughter of a failed criminal. What was she doing here, what was she even trying to do, she'd never--

A hand reached out in the dark and gripped hers tightly. The sudden touch made her jolt out of the darkness and grounded her back in the present. Tim was with her this time. Tim would always be with her. He trusted her, he knew all about her past and never defined her by it. He  _ wanted  _ her by his side. Her heartbeat returned to normal and she was able to begin to take in exactly who was there and with whom. She also took careful note of the exits, and any obstacles between them, just exactly who was there and what level of protection they had with them. The Red Bug slowly traveled around each group, allowing them to listen into the various conversations. 

It seemed that an invite had been sent out to all the families two days ago, and none of them dared to refuse to attend in case they be left out of the scheme. Only Cobblepot had been left out, though that was probably because he was currently locked up in Blackgate thanks to those interfering bat brats. The lesser families were muttering together about what was going to happen. There was apparently due to be some sort of auction going on; they all knew about the drug the Yakuza and Cosa Nostra had been testing. And it seemed they were simultaneously excited at the chance of getting a sample of their own (though the larger families did seem to have already gained one) and being terrified of what would happen if it were used against them. They didn't talk about what exactly the drug was being used for, but it was all spoken with the kind of reverence they usually reserved for fear toxin and joker gas.

The drone did a loop around the foyer before going off in search of the other rooms. Two Face had to be around somewhere, and whilst it probably wouldn't be wise to try to take him on with every crime family in Gotham present, it would certainly help to know where he was. They picked a senior looking henchman and followed him down a corridor that held all the dressing rooms. One of them was being guarded by a woman who probably wasn't an actual Amazon, but could definitely pass for one. She had a sidekick who was packing some serious heat, and the pair screamed of hired hands. So… that was probably where Two Face was hiding out for now, away from the product but no doubt in clear contact with the guards down there. But he’d have to go through the whole floor of people to get down to the basement by which time they’d probably have gotten out of there. Assuming there wasn’t anything too dangerous behind that false door downstairs. 

At this point Proxy decided to just seize complete control of the Red Bug, ignoring Red Robin’s protests as she followed the blueprint she had. They travelled all around the theatre, taking in the backstage areas which had a few grunts who were preparing the stage for the Two Face’s grand reveal of the product. Considering the number of important gang and mafia members present Steph would have thought it would be better defended. But maybe Two Face was just that confident, and who was to say some of those bodyguards weren’t already in his pay and ready to betray their leaders at the flip of a coin? It took half an hour for the Red Bug to do a full sweep of the theatre, the urge to just dive straight in had been strong, but they needed to be patient or else risk falling into one of Two Face’s traps.The patrons had already been ushered into the theatre and handed out boards for bidding on the product, Red Robin and Batgirl had maybe twenty minutes left to do… whatever it is they were going to do. Because with this many people present? What really were their options? 

She tapped Tim on the shoulder and told him to remove the VR lenses so they could talk about what was coming next. As soon as they were both disconnected the video appeared as a hologram on his wrist computer and projected onto the wall. It was just the image of the guard from above, now searching his pockets for a power brick that body scans showed he’d forgotten. 

“So now we know where everyone is in here, as well as where the product is, what’s our course of action?” 

Tim raised an eyebrow at her. “Thought that was obvious, Batgirl. We climb up the drain, knock out the guard, open up the door and take out whatever else is on the other side. The Red Bug doesn’t detect any significant rise in temperature of the room in general and there’s no tell tale sounds of lots of people trapped in one small area. No boots clicking or muffled voices or anything like that, so it’s unlikely that it’s swarming with guards. So all we gotta do it take out the, what, ten possible adversaries? Five each -- All without the people upstairs growing wise to what was happening and send down reinforcements. As to the how, well, we’ll just have to wing it. That’s what you do best, right?” His smile was devilish and full of the confidence that only putting on a mask could bring. But for once it was  _ Tim’s  _ brashness that was causing her problems… he didn’t know these people the way Stephanie did.  

 

“Yeah, look. I’m all for just taking it as it comes on the other side of that door, but we still need a better overall plan in place for what we’re going to do with the product. If the Families find out that their big buy has suddenly disappeared, they’re going to blame the gangs for stealing it under their noses! Can you imagine what would happen if there was a war between the Families and the Gangs? How many people would get hurt in that fallout? It’d be  _ centuries  _ of bad blood finally spilling out onto the street and this city can’t take that again, Red Robin! It just, it can’t. I can’t go through that again, I can’t be responsible for that again.” 

Tim’s face softened and he reached out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You didn’t fire those bullets, Steph. All of that was Bruce’s plan anyway, and the greatest flaw in it was his inability to actually trust people.  _ You  _ weren’t responsible, you--”

Steph pushed his arm off of her. “Yeah yeah, I’ve heard it all before from Lesley. But my point still stands! Batman might be all about fear and stealth-- but stealth is not what’s gonna save us here! We have to make a big bang, or else it’ll only cause us more problems down the line.”

“But if we cause a big bang, they’ll know we’re here and come get us,” he rebutted fiercely. “We won’t get a chance to be certain we’ve got everything we need, and we’ll no doubt destroy any evidence we need to actually get these people arrested! That’s the point of what we’re doing here, Steph. These people are dangerous! They need to be put away.”

Steph gave him a skeptical look. “You’ve been at this how long and you still think these guys are gonna stay in prison if we arrest them? You seriously think that’s going to do anything for anybody? Tonight is about preventing more people from getting hurt, and that means making sure they all know that it was the Bats who were responsible for taking them down, let them direct their anger at us. We can take it. The city can’t.” She fixed him with a fierce glare, daring him to try to contradict her again. There was silence, and then Proxy’s voice piped up over their headsets. 

“God, I don’t know how Oracle managed to put up with this much drama over the comms, but whatever you might think Red Robin, Batgirl is right. I might not be Gotham Born, but trust me when I tell you criminals will always find a way to crawl back into your lives. You can’t put them away, but the best thing you can do is irritate the hell out of them.” 

 

Steph grinned in agreement, and Tim’s lips thinned and then he let out a small sigh. “Alright you two, you got a point. So, Team Batgirl, what’s your plan of attack?” 

“Well it’s just like you said, Red Robin,” sang Steph triumphantly. “We go upstairs, we knock out the guard, and we wing it from there! What could possibly go wrong?” she beamed, shoving him with her shoulder. 

“Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with absolutely no plan?” he retorted, preparing his gear nonetheless. They didn’t have that much time left before the auction started and they’d be forced to fight every crime family in Gotham in order to get out of there. Which was not something Steph had any plans on doing ever again. 

Proxy’s exasperated voice came over the comms again “I’d really appreciate it if you two could stop so blatantly tempting fate with all this ‘oh what could go wrong!’ crap. You know Fate’s got a cruel sense of humour when it comes to our kind.” 

Steph rolled her eyes but Tim looked a little sheepish. It was a very cute look on him. “Whatever you say Prox-- time to go knock out some bad guys though so please hold and I’ll get back to you later.” Proxy was right there, the night wasn’t over and they still had a very serious job to do. It wouldn’t do to get complacent; complacency allowed too many mistakes to happen and they’d worked too hard and for too long to mess things up now. 

Red Robin and Batgirl swiftly crawled out of the gate, sticking to the shadows as the guard was still distracted by his phone. They made a pincer movement around the edges of the room to approach from the side. The guard didn’t even have time to look up by the time Batgirl had pulled them into a choke hold and slowly lowered their unconscious body onto the floor. She kicked their phone away for good measure, sending it scattering into the dark of the room, where the bright light would no doubt annoy the cockroaches. Good. They were big scary mother fuckers, they deserved to be annoyed. 

She dragged the body a little further from the door as Red Robin found a hidden combination lock and a moment later the door slid open to reveal what looked like the underneath area of a stage, which made sense considering where they were. Bright light shone down in thin strips across the floor, the still room mostly lit by dim LEDs making it look like eternal dusk. In the centre of the room was a large metal shipping container that was painted one side white and one side purple -- just like the drugs! Each one had a sliding front compartment that would no doubt be pulled back in a dramatic reveal to the audience. Two Face might not be the most theatrical villian in Gotham, but that still made him a Tony Award Winner when it came to the rest of the criminal world. The theatre program at Blackgate had to be  _ wonderful _ .  And in between them was a mass of hired grunts who looked like they’d walked off of the page of Bad Guy 101. Well, Batgirl had aced Beating The Bad Guy 101 a long time ago, and with fellow expert Red Robin by her side there was nothing to fear. 

“How do you want to play this?” she asked conversationally as the goons all turned to look at them, pulling out their weapons and stalking forward. 

“Hit them til they stop?” he suggested, cocking his head to one side. 

“Just like old times,” she grinned, reaching for her batarangs.

“No” he said, pulling out his own. “Better than old times.”

They threw them in perfect unison, Red Robin’s Disks sending an electric charge that ricocheted between the goons on the right as Batgirl’s Goop stuck the four on the left. The other guards came up at them and they punched, kicked and thwacked them like a perfectly trained unit. It reminded her of when they were younger and she’d tease him by insisting these were dates. The rush of it filled her lungs and made her blood pound. He told her to dive left to miss a blow and smashed them over the head with his bo staff. Then in the moment between knocking one guy out and starting on the other she spied someone trying to sneak up on Red Robin and threw an ice-arang at them to keep them from attacking. How could she ever think that they could leave this out of their relationship, when it was the very foundation of who they were? Energy. Power. Exhilaration. Danger. 

They laid in a final blow to the last grunt and they fell to the floor, leaving the pair of them standing over the body, panting heavily. Batgirl found her gaze drifting down Red Robin’s mouth, and that adrenaline spread through her body again. She could tell, even through the mask, that he was looking at her much the same but… business first. 

“Left or Right?” she asked, snapping him out of the same trance. 

“You take left, I’ll take right,” he affirmed, passing her a couple of sample tubes from his belt. “Get as much of the new product as you can and keep an eye out for anything new.” 

“Yes Red Robin, I was at the planning meeting as well,” she sighed, causing him to blush slightly when she took them from him and sauntered towards the open container doors. She paused at the entrance, resting her hand on the top as she shot a look over at him. “Maybe after this is over, you and I can make some make some more plans on what two young people can get up to when not surrounded by knocked out bad guys and death drugs.”

“I think your flirting needs some work Batgirl.” he laughed, smiling broadly and honestly. “But yeah, once we’re over I think we’ll have earned some alone time.” 

Steph gave an amused snort in response, but she couldn’t deny the attraction of the idea. Proxy’s irritated silence said it all really, and she shot off an apology to her friend that clearly wasn’t accepted. Well fine then, but Steph would get her revenge next time Wendy started waxing lyrical about that girl from her Computer Science Certificate Program. Her section of the container was packed with wooden crates that when broken into revealed stacks of smart, crisp white boxes containing syringes filled with clean white liquid. It was as if Apple had decided to get in on the illicit substance market. She pulled out one of the syringes and squeezed out a drip of the liquid onto the test parchment in her pouch. If it was the same stuff as before the parchment would change colour, and sure enough as soon as the liquid touched the surface it changed into a bright Barbie pink. 

She clicked her communicator, not wanting to yell through the metal. “It’s confirmed as the same substances as before, Red Robin. I’ve got some samples; I say we get out and set a detonator for the crate and get out of here before someone comes.” She stuck a batarang onto the side of the crate and began to twiddle the dial, awaiting Red Robin’s confirmation… but it never came. “Red Robin? Red Robin are you there?” 

…

Nothing. 

She tried yelling at him through the metal, straining back against the urge to call his real name. They were in the den of the snake right now, and revealing their identities wouldn’t help the matter. But still… no response came back. Not a sound but her own heaving breaths and panicked heartbeat. Something in her gut was telling her that she needed to get out of here now before something --

A clanging, smashing sound echoed through her bones as the door to the container slammed shut. The sound was worryingly echoed to the right, where Tim was… where Tim had been. Maybe he’d managed to get out in time? Hopefully he had... She tried to open it back up, searching for a lock, slamming her foot into the door and when that failed, tried cutting it open with a batarang. 

“Proxy, I’m trapped in the container and I can’t get through to Red Robin... Proxy _ come on! _ Enough with the silence, I _ get it _ you don’t like our flirting but this is  _ important _ ! Proxy? Proxy? PROXY PLEASE!” she begged. She tried to push her panic back down her throat. She was an experienced professional. She was a Robin. She was  _ Batgirl  _ and she could handle this. 

She took a deep breath and started to try and think clearly and then… a taste on the air… something bitter that hit the back her tongue and dried it up instantly. Oh… she knew that taste…

She felt her body grow heavy. The room began to swim in front of her but she still had a job to do… she swung back towards the detonator and tried to reset it. Maybe, maybe she could set it so it would just blow up a tiny bit? Her suit was designed to handle low impacts if she could set the timer right… was knock out gas flammable? Maybe if she just... 

Maybe if she... 

Maybe if...

Maybe… 

…

Fuck. 


	13. Two Sides Of The Same Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't tell the gods I left a mess  
> I can't undo what has been done  
> Let's run for cover
> 
> What if I'm the only hero left  
> You better fire off your gun  
> Once and forever - _Heroes _Måns Zelmerlöw__

Tim Drake was a certified Genius, the world’s second greatest detective and an excellent Game Master able to handle anything his players could throw at him. Yet even he didn’t see this coming. Or perhaps he should have. The trap was so obvious… why had they fallen for it? What sensible adventuring party just wandered into a treasure cave without checking for traps first? He’d inserted his respirator as soon as he’d tasted the gas in the air, hoping it would give him a few more seconds of clean air to help him escape. He could hear Steph’s cries from the other side of the crate but hadn’t been able to respond with the respirator in his mouth. 

He tried his best to breathe slowly, being wary of how much air he had left. Clues, clues there had to be more clues! The door wasn’t budging, he could hear Steph’s confirmation of that on her end. It pained him to not respond, but he had to be careful here. He would be of no use to her if he was dead, and all he wanted in this life was to be by her side for the rest of it. He searched through the crates, seeing if there was anything new in there. Yet all he found was more of that purple liquid, already set into syringes and put into neat little boxes ready to be sold. He’d tested it earlier and it had come up as the exact same chemical as before. So what did they know about it? It could be injected. It could be digested. It could be… oh god. Could it be _inhaled_ ? Maybe that was what they were going to finally test on the kids. Maybe that was why they were being sent off to a different facility to gas them? God and he thought that Two Face was one of the _lesser_ villains in Gotham… but maybe that was a misnomer. There were no ‘lesser’ villains: they were all their own special brand of cruel and twisted. 

There was a thud to his left and he felt his heart skip a beat-- that was Steph! That had to be Steph! She mustn’t have been able to get her respirator in in time. He was a little surprised by how quickly she reacted to the gas though. She’d fought off the Black Mercy poison all by herself; a feat worthy of Superman. She’d survived a Scarecrow attack without inoculation too, and God knows what else over the years! Constitution was her highest stat. So why had she fallen and he hadn’t? 

There was that smell though… different to the knock out gasses he was used to. There was a… sweetness to it? Something almost floral. Usually by now he’d be starting to feel the effects, even with the respirator. His brain should be filling with fog and finding it harder and harder to think. But quite the contrary! He felt stronger, more powerful. He could practically feel the neurons firing in his brain! He was making new connections every second. 

The cases on the box were custom made, fitting each needle exactly. The type of plastic told him that they had to have been made in East Asia and shipped over, most likely China via Hong Kong. Cass had said that the Yakuza were looking to become more legitimate and maybe this was what she had found; there would be nothing suspicious about plastic boxes, after all. Especially if they weren’t sent under any of the Yakuza names, if they were being picked up by, say, an _Italian_ one. He looked at the crates and yes, there were a few fibers stuck on there from the cheap fabric worn by dock workers. There were also a few strands of the fluorescent orange Tim knew were handled at the Dixon Docks, near where they’d found those kids. It would make sense that there was a packaging warehouse there too. 

The room was getting warmer. He was almost out of air. He was starting to sweat. The room was getting brighter, offensively so. He looked around, trying to find the source of his pain, opening up each crate but only discovering more of those useless syringes. The ceiling was the same as it had always been, though he definitely noticed new details. The roof was bent in at one side from where another crate had been dropped on top of it, the rust around the edges suggesting it had happened five years ago. The corrugated steel had 15 folds along the side and 21 along the top. 

He looked down at his hands. He’d never been so aware of them. He could count the small bumps on the pads that gave him added grip so he wouldn’t drop his staff as much as he used to. The dots trailed up across the pads, thicker in some places and smaller in others. They each 1.3mm in diameter and had a total area of 1.33mm². There were 567 on his thumb. 

He looked back at the crates. 

If he knew his thumb was 6.78 cm long, then each crate was _46.0 cm x 38.2 cm x 37.6 cm,_ giving each crate a final volume of 0.066 m3 . That would mean each crate could contain 7.46 boxes, but that was ridiculous because one could not have 0.46 of a box, and that wouldn’t leave any room for packing material. Anyway, he knew from observation there were **_13_ ** crates, each crate contained six boxes, and each box contained six syringes, which meant there were **_468_ ** doses in this shipping container right now. That was enough to supply each family with **_52_ ** doses.

But that would mean splitting up boxes, which was a logistical nightmare and not at all like Two Face. Of course, Tim hadn’t factored in for the gangs. If they also got an even share then that would mean **_12_ ** doses each, or two full boxes. Of course, the gangs were always changing and moving on, so you could never account for…

When had the room gotten so loud? They hadn’t moved, he knew the room hadn’t moved because everything was still in place but everything was brighter. The colours were shouting at him. The purple of the liquid was just… it was so purple. It was the purple of her spoiler costume, the one she’d worn on that final night. Tim hadn’t been meant to see it but of course he had. He’d seen the blood her cape. A dried and rusted red. Red like the colour on his suit. Why was he wearing so much red? 

Red: A mix of blue and violet light with a wavelength of 665nm. Despite what some people thought, all blood was red and your veins only looked blue because of the colour of our vein itself and not the blood within it. You should never paint a school room red because it made the kids too agitated and they’d not be able to focus on their work. It was a colour associated with anger and hatred. Red was often used in the animal kingdom to mean that something was dangerous and should not be approached. Red was a warning to others to not get involved, to back off and let them be. 

His respirator felt too heavy in his mouth. The dull taste of metal clawed against his tongue and be couldn't stand it for a second longer. It was wrong, it was so wrong and not at all right. He spat it out in the ground, a thin trail of saliva following it. Better, much better. 

But it wasn’t. Nothing was better. His eyes felt so heavy, the room felt too small and too big all at once. He sunk to the floor and buried his head in his lap. 

Black: A complete absence of light.  Carbon is black and that’s why things turned black when they burned, it was the residuals of said carbon. It spreads everywhere and even if you try to get rid of it you can’t. It's physically impossible. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It’ll remain forever and ever and the stain won’t disappear. Not really. Even if you can’t see it, you’ll know it’s there.

His pulse was 215 bpm. He was taking 54 breaths per minute. His hair was growing at 0.0283mm per minute. 

His name was Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne. He was 19 years-old. He lived at Wayne Manor, Gotham City, New Jersey, Earth 1. His father was Bruce Thom-- _no_! It was Jackson Walter Drake. His father was Jackson Walter Drake. His mother was Janet Whilimina -- No Dana Elizabe-- no he was right the first time! His mother was Janet Whilimina Drake. His girlfriend was Stephanie Amethyst Brown. He loved her, and she loved him. He was not his thoughts. His thoughts could not control him, he was the one in control of them. 

He could not stop his thoughts. 

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne curled even tighter around himself and cried. 

 

*

 

Stephanie Amethyst Brown rolled her shoulders back and looked up into the light shining in her eyes. She felt groggy, but also… loose? She was acutely aware that being tied to a chair in the middle of a stage with hundreds of mafia types staring at her ought to make her nervous… but all she felt was the gentle concept that yeah she was a person in a place. It was a bit reminiscent of that time her and Cass had stolen some of Jason’s home-grown pot, made some of Alfred’s brownies, and then gone stargazing. It had been nice. Cass had been nice. It had all been a very nice. 

“Oh I am sure the two of you had a _very_ nice time together.” A voice crawled into her ear, cracked and broken with a grotesque snarl attached. The face that went with it was very much the same. This was Stephanie’s first time meeting with Harvey Dent, and she couldn’t exactly say she was eager to repeat the experience. Volunteering with Leslie had meant she’d been exposed to the worst kinds of injuries. Kids who’d been permanently mutated by joker gas, who’d suffered horrific burns in firefly attacks and the kind of malnutrition that never left the bones. So no, it wasn’t the gnarled, purple skin that looked as though it were perpetually melting that made Stephanie flinch. Nor that permanent skeleton smile with jarringly bright white teeth. It was his eyes. 

Harvey Dent had once been one of the greatest defence attorneys in the nation, but the same acid attack that had left him permanently scared seemed to just snap his mental state in two. He’d lost that passion for justice and turned to crime, becoming the very same thing he’d dedicated his life to fighting. The obsession with chance, with numbers, it had broken him. She didn’t look at him with repulsion, she looked at him with pity. 

She knew all the death and pain that he’d caused, the blood that he’d eagerly drenched himself in. Sara had sat there and cried on her shoulder, her body shaking and her heart breaking all because this piece of shit wanted … what? Money? Power? He abused young, vulnerable kids all because they were the easiest targets. Any shred of humanity that was left within Two Face was gone now. It made her blood boil just to think of it but at the same time… there was still that pity. That sense of sadness over what sort of man had been lost to the mind of the monster he’d become. 

Two Face gave her what might have been a condescending smirk, it was hard to tell. “As much as I love to hear moralising from a Bat, I think I’d rather just get on with the good stuff. Don’t you think?”

Wait, what? What did he mean ‘as much as he loved to hear moralising’? All of that had been in her head, right? She wasn’t even sure if any of that had been words, it was mostly just… thoughts and feelings. She knew she had inner monologue issues but surely it’d not-- 

“Oh no Batgirl, we can hear everything you’re saying, and there is not a single safe thought in that dull brain of yours. But don’t worry your pretty face about it, everything you say will be kept strictly between me and all my guests here tonight.” He grabbed her by the face, her arms still tied behind her back, and shoved it forward to look out into the crowd. “Smile for the crowd Batgirl, you're our star attraction!" 

Oh god. She’d known she was on a stage. She’d known that they were being watched and yet, and yet somehow that had all flown away when he’d been looking at her. But she was back there now, looking into the crowd of the most dangerous people in Gotham who were all staring at her like she was a prized picture in a gallery. There were also a lot of very attractive women with muscles and suits and she was very, very, very gay... _crap_! She’d said that outloud, hadn’t she?

“Don’t worry Batgirl, I get that a lot from girls,” grinned one of the women. She had short cropped black hair and a willowy frame. Steph was pretty sure that her shirt didn’t even _have_ buttons! She tried her absolute hardest to not say any of this out loud though, but the soft laugh that travelled around the theatre told her otherwise. As if she didn’t already have inner monologue problems when it came to hot people! The woman continued talking though, addressing Two Face like he was nothing more than an over eager salesman. “If I wanted girls to throw compliments at me I’d have stayed at the Egyptian, where the wine is much better and the company far more delightful. You said you’d show us something amazing, so where is it?” Her face was partially hidden in the shadows of the stage but Stephanie was sure she recognised the tone… 

“It's good to see you too, Ms Kyle-- or should that be Ms _Calabrese_ now? It can be so hard to keep up with everything you’re doing. How many lives are you at now? I've lost count," Two Face crooned. Steph bit down on her tongue to try and keep everything back. Selina Kyle, The Catwoman, was the Mafia Boss that'd been avoiding detection all this time? Or was it just from the Ex-Robins? Did Batman know about it? Fuck, or _course_ he knew about it! It didn't matter what was going on, he was her go-to Booty call. Oh God. Oh God let that have been inside her head… 

There was no return comment though, and the taste of blood filled her mouth from where she'd been biting her cheek, so she was probably safe. 

"Look here," hissed Selina, taking a step further into the light. "You have been messing about on my territory, taking my kids. I would be well within my rights to take you out!"

There was general grumbling out cry from the gathered mobsters. Yakuza and Cosa Nostra alike rose to their feet, the sound of their guns cocking the only words needed. It was a noise that _should_ have terrified Steph, but it had become as commonplace as police sirens. Selina simply held up a hand for silence, not even bothering to turn around. It was respected immediately. "Yet I understand that, despite your previous activities, you currently have the support of the others. And you have clearly been desperate to get my attention. You have it. So, show me this _amazing_ thing you have, and not just one unconscious Robin and another one with no filter. I've seen them both before and know how that story ends."

It took Stephanie a moment to process what Selina had said… but she suddenly felt her heart start to flutter in her chest as she looked sideways and saw Ti-- Red Robin sitting there. His head bowed, sweat dripping down his skin. But he wasn't unconscious, not just yet. His mouth was moving, tiny mutterings that moved so quickly Stephanie couldn't pick out what he was saying. His eyes were tightly shut, and whilst Stephanie has been fiddling with the knots behind her back as soon as she'd realised they were there… Red Robin's hands were completely still. No movement at all. He wasn't even aware of his surroundings. 

"I hate to admit it, but Calabrese has a point," came a Romanian accent voice from the back. Ibanescu, then. "You've captured some teenagers. Teenagers we have seen escape from your clutches a thousand times. Who'll no doubt bring Batman crashing in at any moment. Why? What is it you want to show us?" 

There was general agreement, a few more Gotham Proper accents popping up amongst them, obviously from the gangs. Whether formally invited or not, they'd turned up. And they wanted something to show for it, other than a few bruises when they investably back-chatted each other. One voice rose up above the lot of them, one Steph's years of defending the Lower Gotham immediately recognised as the leader of the Irish Wound Hounds. Two Face really was gathering everyone together, the Old Gangs had bad blood with the Crime Families. This whole place was a powder keg. 

"Where the feck are all the Drugs ya' promised us, Dent? We're here for them, so we are. Now tell us what they do, why'd you give 'em to the Bastards first and then how much you's want for 'em and we can start to do business." 

That terrible grin spread back across Two Face's mouth, showing off each bleached tooth. "I promised you all a demonstration and that is what you are getting! So please, Mr O'Conner. Sit back down and listen closely. I gathered these little birdies here to prove to you that not even the most stubborn of bodies can resist them. That's right! Twenty minutes ago each of them was dosed with a fatal amount of our concoction." The word _fatal_ rang hard and true in Stephanie's ears. She started to try to pick apart the ropes, but with her utility belt confiscated she was having to rely on pure talent. And she was never as good of an escape artist as the others. No… not the time for self-deprecation. Time to listen to the bad guy monologue, find out his plan, and save the day. 

"Red Robin here has been gassed with what we're simply calling... ‘The Intensifier’. His brain is working faster than it ever has before, it's processing information at a rate previously thought impossible. The experiments show that the younger the test subject is, the better the more effective it is. Our Yakuza friends here have been testing it out for us over in New York. Their little supercomputers have proven to be excellent stock brokers, spotting all those patterns in the data that would normally go amiss. Of course if they go for too long without the antidote, and, well." He reached up and pulled Red Robin's head back with no complaint. It lulled to the side, almost lifeless. Steph could see tears streaming down his face. His breathing laboured. He was trying to fight it… but surely he wouldn't last much longer? 

"Please! Let him go!" she shrieked, physically unable to stop herself, her eyes red from restrained tears. "Give him the antidote! You've proved your point, just, please! You can have me, just… just let my Robin go!"

She felt the whole crowd turn to look at her. Amused muttering in a plethora of languages spread out across the scene. Two Face's already manic eyes began to glitter with satisfaction. " _My_ Robin is it? So the rumours are true, Red Robin and Batgirl are back together! Your types really can't resist one another, can you? Number 1 had Ginger, though evidence suggests he couldn't resist any redhead put in front of him. Number 2 died too soon for puberty to hit, but I'm sure he'd have been the same. Number 4 had some even more peculiar tastes with that gimp mask worn by the Mute, no wonder Black Mask saw to her so quickly. I bet she _loved_ it! And Now Number 3 has Malibu Barbie Batgirl! Oh what delights will await Number 5? Well, let us put all this loyalty to the test, shall we?" 

He turned once more to face the crowd. "As you can see, Batgirl has been a little more talkative than usual. Which is impressive really given that, unlike her predecessor, she never seems to _shut up_ . But now, it's on our terms. I'll admit, I'm impressed that she's held out this long, but this one had to be good at _something,_ didn't she?" 

God Steph hated him. If he thought she'd fall for those taunts, he had another thing coming! 

"Oh but you already are falling for them!" he cackled, gripping her by the chin and forcing her to look at him. "Nothing can stop you. Now, tell us what we all want to know. We'll start small, shall we? Where is the location of The Batman's Hideout?"

Steph tried to keep it in she bit at her cheek, drawing yet more blood. Her throat opened and closed around the words but it was like trying to swallow vomit. "In-- in a --" Blood dribbled from her lips. "In a cave. In--" She held her breath, she tried to force it down but the more she tried to fight the urge to talk, the harder it became to fight. "In a cave. In Gotham. North side. I don't know the coordinates off the top of my head but don't you all see? He's just like you: he loves his Aesthetic and so it makes sense that he would live in a cave! A _Bat_ cave! There's even tiny bats that Agent A feeds every day, fried Free Range chicken with chives. Robin, the new Robin: Robin Five, helps him out because he's really into animals! He has a pet cow called Batcow and a cat called Alfred and a dog called Titus and--" 

Two Face smothered her mouth with his hand. "Alright that proves my point I think. Too much info-argh!" He yelped as Steph bit into his palm. She'd had all her inoculations. She figured it was safe. 

There were a few amused snorts from the crowd, and Steph didn't know if they were a result of her biting him… or of her implication that he had rabies. 

Regardless, Two Face wiped his hand on his suit and gave another snarl. "Alright then… let's try something a bit better. Who is The Batman?" 

There was a murmur from the crowd as suddenly everyone seemed interested. Okay. She had to think here, there was a way around this. She knew she couldn't _not_ talk, but maybe that was the answer here. Always hide the truth in the middle of a sentence, put it back to front a little bit and then nobody would ever spot it. 

"Who is The Batman? He's an exhausted father of five who is just trying his best to keep the city alive and safe from creeps like you. He's a complete bastard who never trusted me enough to tell me his name. He tests you when you don't deserve it. He makes you want to impress him even when he gives you nothing back in return. He's the greatest, most generous human being I have ever known. And he has a pet cow he keeps in the Batcave. Did I mention the cow already? I feel like the cow is very important to the whole sense of who Batman is." 

Two Face tilted his head slightly, and bent down to her eye level yet again. "So he never trusted you enough to tell you his name? Well well well, looks like you're not as important as you like to think you are."

"Probably not," Steph replied conversationally. "But the thing is doing his job is never about being important. It's about doing what's right. And you know what's right, don't you?" Steph looked back out at the faces in the crowd, unable to make out more than the first few rows of people. "You know that Two Face is never going to really trust you guys. He's never gonna just give you access to such a powerful drug, not when you're the ones responsible for why he's here to begin with! He already killed all the Sullivans! Do you want that to happen to you? Unless that's all the point give it to _you_ and not _them_ and start another war. But who wants _another_ war!? How many died last time? It was awful. I was there, you were _all_ there! I fucking _died_!"

There was another general set of murmuring amongst the crowd; in the front row she could see a couple of body guards with hands nestled in their jacket pockets. Never a good sign. Two Face turned to them with a placating expression. "Come now, I'm just here to provide you with goods! I come before you as a business man for once. I have a product that I have no use for, you have money that I have _every_ use for. What happens between the rest of you is your business." 

The tension was still there, but a few of the senior members were now putting hands up against their eager children's chests to stop them from making mistakes. Once again, Selina was the one to speak up. 

"You said you had an antidote? Something to avoid fatalities? I have to say, I'm not keen on the idea of everyone getting a hold of this stuff and not having a contingency. Prove that it works. Show it to us on the girl." Her eyes flickered over to Stephanie, a look that told her if ever she was able to shut up, now was the time. God Steph wished she could manage that….

"I assure you, it works just fine." the man next to Selina replied, a little primly. "The Yakuza's test subjects have all recovered from the doses we gave them. There's no need to act rashly. We have a great opportunity here for gathering information. Let us not put this to waste." 

"No offence, Tatsuo, but I have been dealing with Two Face for far longer than you. His name says it all, and I also know better than to put all my faith in one man's experiments." 

Tatsuo Hagisawa's shoulders stiffened, but if he took offence he did not voice it. Selina was right, and they all knew it. They turned expectantly to Two Face. He looked at them all, and took out that famous coin, making it dance between his knuckles. 

“Oh screw this already! Just kill them!” called back one of the gang members  “It’s like you said, how many of us have been fucked over by them in the past? Kill them and send a message to the Bat. Let him know what we’ve got in our hands. If we let them go, they’ll only report back to him anyway.” 

“How does this sound then? We do a double demonstration? Heads, she gets the antidote, tails we show what happens when you mix these little potions together. We’ve only tested it out once, I’ve never seen a child scream so much with not a drop of blood in sight.” Steph’s felt a shiver travel down her spine at the glitter in Two Face’s eyes. Even Selina seemed to recoil from it. She licked her lips as she squared her shoulders, only practice allowing Selina to face down such villainy with such a casual air. 

“What guarantee does that give us of any demonstration? We know that the dose is already fatal we don’t need to--”

“Oh, I had not finished Ms Calabrese, here’s the best part. We have two sides of a coin, and we have two Bats. Two possible outcomes! Whoever doesn’t get the antidote gets to die in the most painful way possible!” The gleam in his eyes grew even more manic and Steph wondered if there could ever be any reasoning with him. Then again, he relied on luck to guide him. And there was no reasoning with luck. We have two sides of a coin and we have two Bats. “So tell me, Kitty, who lives and who dies? Heads it’s bye-bye Batgirl, or Tails Batman gets to add another Dead Robin to his collection! _Decide_ or we’ll get rid of them both and then find some more test subjects for our demonstration. There are plenty of other unruly kids out there, after all.” 

Stephanie strained once more against her bonds, still fighting against the smog in her brain to come up with an answer. To come up with anything useful that wasn’t more mindless babblings! Why couldn’t she be of any _use_ for once! And whatever answer Selina gave, she knew it wouldn’t matter. She didn’t want to die, but she knew if she lived and Tim didn’t… well. How was that any different? 

Selina’s eyes flicked between the two of them, and then she looked up at the rafters as if searching for a heavenly answer. She looked back down at her feet for a split second, her hands clenched into fists at her side before meeting Stephanie’s gaze. Steph gave her a tiny nod in response, she too didn’t want any more kids like Sara to end up here. Whatever was about to happen, she would never blame Selina.

“I call tails. Red Robin dies, Batgirl lives.” 

The words sliced into Stephanie like a knife, cutting deep into her core. There were things she could do, ways she might be able to get out of this… but right now only one thing mattered. Whatever happened next was in the hands of the gods. 

“Excellent decision.” grinned Two Face, and tossed the coin into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXTRA thanks this week go to my beautiful beta [MagicMarker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicMarker/pseuds/MagicMarker) (AKA[ cersei-the-truth-bombardier](https://cersei-the-truth-bombardier.tumblr.com) on tumblr) AKA for help with the maths, and indeed the science! Any further mistakes are my own, and I beg you to forgive my humanities focussed self ^^;;;


	14. Two of a Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you leave  
> At least in my lifetime  
> I've had one dream come true  
> I was blessed to be loved  
> By someone as wonderful as you -- _Please Don't Go _\- Stephanie Rainey__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this being so late, I had the kind of week that takes 2 weeks to recover from.

Steph watched in slow motion horror as the coin spun in the air. Heads, tails, heads, tails… life, death, life, death, life… It fell with threatening speed to crash into his twisted palm. That sickening smile spread across his face again as he clenched the coin in a victorious fist. 

"Looks like your lucky day Batgirl, you get to watch your boyfriend die!" 

Steph felt her heart drop to the floor and keep falling. Breathing became difficult; her heart felt like it had completely stopped beating as she struggled against the fog in her brain to find a plan. She had information now, she could act! His sentence didn’t mean certainty… but still the fog swirled around her, making her incapable of moving. She looked up and saw Selina square her shoulders. 

She gave Two Face a murderous look and spoke with complete distasteful authority, "Let’s proceed with the demonstration then? Then we can all get on with business."  

"But of course Ms Calabrese." he gave her a mock bow, before snapping his fingers. Two henchmen walked forward with two test tubes in hand. One of them grabbed Steph by the back of her head and forced her mouth open. She struggled but was running out of energy at this point, her arms falling heavy and useless. The world was starting to swirl around her and she knew it wouldn't be long before she lost consciousness completely. Then the cold slick liquid hit the back of her throat and she started to choke on it, great heaving gulps that made her stomach curl. 

The same sickening noises could be heard to her right from Tim, but they were fainter, as though he'd already given up. She wanted to throw up but the hand on her throat forced her to swallow it all down, the liquid dribbling out of her mouth as she tried to fight it. She had to get to Tim, she had to save him, she had to-- Then… a clarity started to pull over her. She didn't know if it was the shock or the drug but everything seemed to slot back into place and a plan began to form itself. 

If she could be the angel of death, who’s to say she couldn’t be the reverse? 

The guard took a step backwards, releasing her mouth and she coughed up a little more of the drug, letting it spill across her lips as she tried to regain her breath. She glanced to her side and there was Tim… there was her Robin… still limp and then…  _ oh god—  _ and then it began. Still tied to the chair, he lurched forward with an ear splitting roar of guttural pain. She could see the tears streaming down his face as his hands pulled instinctively against their bindings, turning red from the effort. 

There was silence amongst the crowd as everyone took in the horror of just what the drugs could do. 

"As you can see," Two Face began "Our Batgirl here is quite unharmed. Yet Red Robin will soon be  _ Dead _ Robin. Impressive, isn't it? So, now you can see what these drugs can do -- who would like to start the bidding? Remember, if you don't bid then someone else will get it! And you really wouldn't want that now, would you?" The malice in his voice carried over Robin's howling pain. Steph felt her heart beat again, adrenaline flooding her as it overpowered the effects of the drug she knew to still be in her system. 

People started clambering to make their bids. Terrified of what would happen if someone else got it before them. What that kind of drug could do in the wrong hands, and making sure it was therefore  _ their _ wrong hands and not their rivals.

Steph looked up from her chair and made a low growling noise. "Hey, Two Face? You're forgetting something-- something very, very important."

Two Face turned to look at her, still relishing in the cries of money being thrown so freely. "Oh don't worry, I'll let you go soon enough and you can go running back to Batman and tell him all about--" 

"No. Enough about  _ him _ . This is about me. You forgot about me. You asked what  _ his _ name was, but you never asked me who  _ I _ am." She panted, pulling her muscles taut as she looked up at him with as fierce an expression as she could muster. 

"Oh? Is that so? Well I guess the drug is still working! Go on then, tell us your real name. Maybe you'll convince this crowd to make an even greater bid!” He held up a hand for silence, and the crowd did as instructed, as though under some kind of spell. "Tell me, what is your true identity?" 

Steph beckoned him closer with her head and he foolishly complied. He leant down into her space so she was forced to look directly into those bloodshot eyes and breathe in that rotten breath. She met them with a grim smile and raging eyes. 

"It's Batgirl,  _ Bitch _ !" and she bought her steel toed boot straight up between his legs with a satisfying thwump. He fell to the ground, clutching his crotch as he cried out like a needy dog. The stench of his breath still clung to her face but at least he’d backed away. Immediately hands were on her from behind but she flung her head back to smack them in the nose as they descended on her.

"Unfair…" whimpered Two Face from the floor as he attempted to get back up.

"Have you forgotten, Harvey?" Steph grunted, as she tilted her chair to the left as another guard tried to get her. "Gotham girls don't fight fair." She pivoted in the air for a moment and then slammed the leg down hard on the guard’s foot, the undignified scream letting her know she’d succeeded in breaking some bones. 

Guns were pulled from all directions but right now Steph only had one mission. She clambered to her feet, still attached to the chair. It stuck out oddly behind her pulling her slightly off balance, but it wasn’t exactly her first time being tied to a chair and forced to fight her way out. She  _ had  _ this! The remaining guards were already charging at her, but she just turned around and rammed the chair directly into them. The legs splintered off, leaving only the backrest attached to her. But it did give her more freedom on her legs and she was able to get out double kick that smacked the guns away from her attackers. 

Two Face was climbing back to his feet now, reaching not for the gun at his side, but for his coin. Which told her that when he  _ did _ fire, he would be aiming to kill. But he was standing between her and Robin, and that was  _ never _ a wise move. She rushed him again, quickly dropping to the ground and kicking his legs out from underneath him. The coin clattered to the floor and she frantically kicked it off the stage. Two Face gave a cry of anguish, clawing his way towards it. 

The voices of the crowd filled her ears as they all started to panic as to what to do. She felt a frantic bullet blast past her cheek as some began to make decisions... but she didn't care about her own safety. She had one job right now and that was get to Robin. Plus the cape could take the bullets. Probably. Robin’s yells of agony had quietened to dry whispers, and Steph knew that was never a good sign. Her hands were still tied behind her back as she tried her best to soothe him. "It's okay Robin, it's okay, I'm here. You're going to be alright, you hear me? You'll be fine." He looked up at her, his eyes whited out by his mask so she couldn't see them. The same blank eyes she'd fallen in love with age fifteen. 

"Spoiler…" he croaked. "I knew you'd be the one I'd see…"

Steph felt her heart break apart with every word. "I told you, I'm not the angel of death," and she swooped down and captured his mouth with hers. Messy, sliding her tongue across him, pulling him in as deeply as she could. Just like Kristina. Just like Tanzania. She pulled back from him, panting. 

"Love you too…" he murmured, before his head lolled to the side once more. She stared in horror, his words seemed so final! Like he’d given up on the world… her hands desperately searched for a pulse, some sign that it worked that he was still alive! She couldn’t lose him, she couldn’t not after everything! Then… she found it. His pulse was still way above a healthy rate but it was there! His chest began to rise and fall in rhythm with it, he wasn’t safe, he wasn’t healthy but he was stable at least. Right? A bullet crashed into the back of her as if to prove a point, experience telling her the intense pain would leave one hell of a bruise, but no permanent damage. Now she just needed to get them out of here... 

And then, and then a lot of things seemed to happen at once. There was a crash from the ceiling as someone fell from above. Then the stinging pain from a whip burned across her wrist as her bindings were cut. She twisted around to see Selina pulling her whip back to her side, she gave Steph a reassuring nod in recognition, her eyes clear and focussed. Her calm demeanor helped centre Steph, reminding her of all the reason she’d idolised Catwoman, and how she’d been the only to show her any support during the Gang War. Before she had time to think though a blast erupted from the entrance to the theatre, wood splintering everywhere. A very familiar masked figure stood in the doorway, smoke billowed out of two high caliber pistols, designed specifically to fire rubber bullets.

“Alright Fuck Heads, let’s do this.” 

Like a serial killer in a woodland cabin, _Jason_ had arrived! All the mobsters immediately spun around, recognising him on sight. The gangs in particular all seemed very eager at the opportunity to take out the perpetual thorn in their sides. _Good Luck with that,_ thought Steph. Only the Joker had managed that job, and look how _that_ had turned out! The new Catwoman threw herself into the fray, and the distraction was exactly was Stephanie needed. Her belt was nowhere to be seen, but she didn't need that, she just needed to get her transmitter working. She brought up the tracker on her wrist and gave it a twist, hoping that not _all_ communications had been jammed. 

Then she went about untying Robin. The ropes were thick and tight, and there was no way she'd be able to tug them free in time. She looked around in panic, and finally spotted the shattered glass on the floor from where the guards had dropped the empty vials they’d been holding. She frantically grabbed at one of the shards and began to slice open the ropes, praying that she didn't cut him in the process. 

Eventually he was freed and she began to try to hoist him onto her back in a fireman's carry. It was a good job he was so small. She looked out into the chaos before her, and felt a twinge of panic rise up inside of her. There was so many of them… so many gang members all fighting, turning now on one another in the confusion. Had she been the cause of all this? Was her own stupidity once again--  

"Hey BG, you need a hand with that?" yelled Red Hood, clobbering a guy over the head with the barrel of his empty gun. Right. Robin. Yes. The present, the here and the now. She had to get Robin out of here, she had to save Robin.  

Selina was doing a great job distracting Two Face, entangling him in a violent conversation between the Yakuza and Cosa Nostra representatives. Steph tried to spy a way through the crowd, but came up at a loss. The aisles were blocked, fights taking place between the cramped seats. "Red Hood, I need a path!" she bellowed and he gave her a nod in response. He slammed an elbow in the face of the idiot coming at him directly, and then turned his focus back onto the main crowd. He managed to make some headway towards the aisle, keeping the seats to his left so as to create a bottleneck. Most of the assembled mobsters had either run out of bullets, or were too busy trying to get out of there in one piece. Whilst it had been a  _ while _ since Red Hood had killed anyone, you didn't easily forget about the man who put 8 severed heads in a duffel bag just to prove a point. 

They were right to be concerned, as Jason quickly loaded a new clip into his gun and began taking careful aim at everyone in the aisle. This time, though, the bullets were live. She knew that he was still only aiming for knee caps, and he was a good enough marksman to never miss. Still, the sight of a Robin with a gun always made her hesitate. What would have happened had she taken that shot against Blackmask? How many lives could have been saved… and would she still be in the position she was today? With her mother, and  _ Tim _ , and college and the Birds of Prey… no. She  _ couldn't _ focus on that, she had to stay in the present. She hefted a mumbling Tim further up her shoulder and started to charge through the litter of people all crying out in pain on the floor. Jason stopped firing and reached out a hand to help pull her the rest of the way. 

"Pass him over." he grunted, not giving Stephanie a choice in the matter as he easily lifted Tim off of her and slung him over his shoulder. He could still fight with one hand, after all. He proved his point when Steph felt the bullet rush past her head and lodge itself in the arm of another mobster, forcing them to drop the knife they’d been brandishing. Steph hadn't even realised they were there… her mind was still too distracted, whether it was the drug or the traumatic familiarity of the situation she didn't know. 

Jason could sense her hesitation, and grabbed her hand again to start drag her towards the exit. "We're getting out of here, BG." 

"But Two Face!" she cried, looking back over at where the fight was still going on between him and the new Catwoman. "We need to get him! We need to make sure the police--" 

"Proxy already called them--  _ On your left _ !" he cried and Steph's leg instinctively flew out, smacking the mobster in the chest and sending them flying backwards with a fractured rib.  "Only reason I got here first is because I was following the Blackgaters. They were planning on coming in here and robbing the place during the auction as revenge for Two Face turning one of their own against them. They just didn't count on  _ me _ getting to them first." 

The kick she’d given earlier somehow started to get Steph's brain back in gear. An instinctive part of her training took over as she worked in tandem with Jason to clear them a path. Though at the mention of the police a lot more people started to scatter out of the building, giving them as wide a berth as possible. 

"So Proxy knows we're here?" asked Steph, her breathing coming down to something that, if not healthy, still felt natural. 

"She didn't explain the details, just that you weren't responding to comms and she couldn't get a hold of you. After the standard fifteen minutes passed with no response, she sent out a call on the Batline. I'm first responder, but Batwoman's on her way. She'll clean up the dregs, don't worry. We've got more important things to consider, Batgirl."

Steph nodded, focusing back on Tim. They needed to get him home, he needed to live! She looked back at her wrist computer and quickly pulled Jason aside just as Ricochet came barreling towards them, stopping with a screech just in front of them. She flipped open the hatch and indicated for Jason to put him inside. 

Tim mumbled incoherently as Steph strapped him in place, but she shushed him. "Save your strength, and tell me later, okay?" she whispered, running a hand down his sweat soaked cheek before finalising the coordinates in the GPS. "I'm setting it to return to the Batcave, and letting Agent A know what to expect. Proxy'll be able to monitor his vitals from Firewall, and then pass the information onto him. I know Leslie's clinic is nearer but Agent A is the one who'll--" she bolted upright, turning to Jason with a look of horror. "Oh God…  _ the Batcave _ ." 

"What about it?" asked Jason, already looking over his shoulder where a group of Cosa Nostra thugs were getting their own bikes ready. 

"They know where it is! I told them they-- we can't send him to-- they'll--" She twisted around but the trike had already left. The bikers started to chase after it, no doubt choosing to follow the trike back to where it came from and find out the exact location for themselves.

"You're lucky I'm the one here for this. B would go bezerk…" Jason said, running his hand over his helmet. 

"It was  _ truth serum _ , I didn’t have a choice!" she cried, already making a Bee-line for Jason's motorbike "We'll follow them, alright. We'll follow and then— and then lead them to a false entrance." She clambered on, already knowing that Jason never bothered with a key and just hot wired it each time. The engine rumbled and Jason clambered onto the back. 

"You drive, I'll shoot," he affirmed, and Steph nodded, roaring the bike into life and chasing after Ricochet. The trike was faster than the chasers, but that didn't mean anything, all those thugs had to do was track it from a distance and they'd be caught. They sped throughout the Gotham Traffic, swerving just in time to avoid cars and pedestrians. Bruce had never needed to train her on this though; riding a motorbike was the one useful thing her Dad had taught her. And like in all things, she’d surpassed him a long time ago. 

They quickly gained speed on the chasers, and Jason began to take shots at their tires. The bikes skidded and flipped out from underneath them, smashing against oncoming traffic, but the two dead robins had enough experience to avoid injuries. There’d be more pile-ups on the road, but that was just one of the risks of driving in Gotham. The bikers started to get wise to their plans and called in for back up. They were trying to out race each other just as much as they were the Bats. 

The sleek black Cosa Nostra bikes were joined by those of the Free Men, who looked even more bashed up by comparison. But everyone knew a beat-up bike meant a more experienced driver. One guy started to drive straight at his Cosa Nostra counterpart, not even flinching as they smashed straight into one another, sending them both scattering into the air. The debris smashed into civilian drivers, causing more angry screams of fear to erupt around them. The cars would be a write off, but there wouldn’t be any need for an ambulance. It did have the effect of causing a complete roadblock that nobody could go around. She could still see Ricochet barrelling off in the distance, but just one biker followed it now. 

“You see that broken car door?” she barked at Jason, indicating one of the smashed-in cars with a petrified driver inside. The door was on its side, balanced precariously between the two fallen bikes. 

“BG, have I told you that you’re my favourite?” The grin was evident in Jason’s voice as he chucked his empty gun out in front of them. It hit the door with surprising force and made it topple over, outside up. Jason then clutched his arms tighter around her waist in a way that probably would have made Tim jealous if he wasn’t so busy dying. There were a few cops starting to approach now, signalling for people to stay back but knowing better than to interfere. Steph didn’t let them distract her and instead sped up, aiming directly for their makeshift ramp. There was a big rattle-thud when they hit the ramp, as for a second it looked like it would buckle underneath them. Then the next second they were soaring through the air, rising up over the blockade. Jason let out a loud whoop as they smacked onto the tarmac on the other side. There was a quick wobble where Steph thought she might lose control of the bike, but Jason shifted his weight to help counter it. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. 

“Never done that with someone on the back before. Thank Fuck it worked.”

“What was that?” called Jason, as he reloaded his gun to take his shot at the remaining guy. 

“I said ‘shoot him and not Red Robin’!” she replied, a slight note of panic in her voice that she couldn’t hide.

“Good, ‘cause it sounded like you took a massive risk and nearly killed us both  _ again _ but  _ didn’t _ because you’re  _ awesome _ .” She felt the gun blast fire past her and watched the bullet take out the tire of the last guy. He’d tried to swerve to avoid the blast but failed, toppling over in a dramatic crash and sliding painfully across the road. His bloodied, raw skin proved why you should always wear a jacket. 

That left Ricochet (and therefore Tim) free from chasers. For the moment. Steph knew there were more coming; even if one gang had given up, it didn’t mean they all had. She moved to keep pace with the trike, not daring to look inside to see how Tim was faring. She couldn’t risk distractions. They were coming up to a fork in the road now. Just as predicted, a new set of bikers appeared behind them, having taken the long way around the blockade. They didn’t seem to know which bike they were meant to be chasing though. This was their chance. 

“Ready to cause some distractions?” she asked and Jason just let out a huff of laughter.

“BG, it’s what I do best.” He managed to swing his stocky frame around the bike so he was facing outwards. His strong thighs were the only thing keeping him on the bike, but she’d seen them crush a watermelon so she didn’t really have any concerns on that front. 

He started to rain down fire upon the approaching bikers, each one carrying an insignia of some kind. Jason's aim was definitely more for show, taunting the riders into chasing them and not the trike. The turn came up… and every biker chose to go after  _ them _ instead of Ricochet. Relief flooded through her bones, even though they were still being tailed across the city. She was able to pick up speed now, and lead them northwest, instead of northeast. 

There were plenty of dummy entrances for the cave. They had equal amounts of security as the real one, but were all just mazes of tunnels that required memorisation if you wanted to get out of there. They did eventually lead into the Batcave, but you still needed the right entrance ID to get in. She sped the bike through the entrance, leaving enough distance between her and the chasers that the electric barrier could be disabled and re-enabled in time. She and Jason got through easily but the bikers were all started to pile up. They drove further down, letting the solid barriers fall down behind them one by one until they were safely into the belly of the cave. 

She brought the bike to a stop, collapsing against the handlebars as the adrenaline from the night seemed to leave her all at once. Jason hopped off the bike with irritating ease, giving his arms a quick stretch before setting about depositing his weapons into their various holsters. He removed his helmet last, tucking it under his arm as he took in Steph's exhausted form.

"I'm sorry for calling you Wickham,” she murmured, unable to find the strength to move at all. "You're totally a Lizzie." 

He knelt down beside her, with a gentleness most didn't expect from him. "Yes, I totally am. Which means that you're Jane,  _ not _ Lydia. So, let's go find your Mr Bingley, okay?" 

He carefully clicked the release button on the electric charge in her suit so he could pull down her cowl; giving her a little more room to breathe. Then he picked her right up off the bike and into a piggy back. There was no way she’d be able to hold onto the bike in this state, it was better left behind where he could pick it up later.

Steph could only cling tightly onto him as he led them through the tunnels. People often thought their ‘Dead Robin Club’ jokes were based upon morbid humour and sibling solidarity. But it was more than that. Being a Dead Robin was about learning to find solidarity in the  _ silence _ . It was knowing that sometimes there was no one coming to save you. It was the knowledge of what complete and utter abject loneliness truly meant. The feeling that the last thing you'd ever see was the laughing face of a maniac hell bent on killing you as slowly and painfully as possible. Of knowing no one was coming to save you. 

‘Dead Robin Club’ was about making sure that  _ never happened again _ . No matter what the world threw at them, no matter how far apart they drifted, it was a bond the pair of them would always share. Jason carried her because she couldn't walk. One day she'd return the favour, but for now, she just let herself cry. 

Cry for the past. Cry for the present. Cry for the uncertainty of her future.

Cry for Robin, and Alvin, and Tim and Red Robin. Cry because this time, she wasn't doing it alone.

"He'll be alright," Jason said kindly, shifting her further up his back. "He's too stubborn to die. Plus Tim  _ adores _ you; he wouldn’t risk doing anything to be separated from you again. Alfie’ll take care of him. You just rest now Steph." 

She nodded, nestling her head into the crook of his neck and praying that he was correct. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first draft of the final chapter is complete! So even if there is a bit of a wait... a conclusion WILL come!


	15. Just the Two of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can't say how the days will unfold,  
> Can't change what the future may hold  
> But, I want you in it  
> Every hour, every minute - _Running Home To You _Grant Gustin as Barry Allen.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I got no excuses. On the plus side, I finally booked an appointment with the apple store to get my Laptop Fixed! Yay!

Tim's mind felt like it was on fire, a raging roaring energy that burned everything inside of him. There was so much power that could have been harnessed. Could have been used for good. But it was too much, it overpowered him and he could barely see past the flames at the world around him. They only grew, as more fuel was poured over it, the pain engulfing his whole body and not even tears could stop it… and then a face. 

It was soft, and loving with a gentle smile. Pale skin and black hair, bright eyes outlined in thick eyeliner with a little curl drawn in at the end. Their hand reached out towards him… and then… and then it changed. The smile grew sadder. The eyes had tears in them. The mane of black hair turned into a golden halo. 

"Spoiler… I always knew you'd be the one I'd see," he murmured. It was what he'd always hoped for in his final moments, knowing she was beside him. Even if it was all just a dream, a projection from his mind to comfort him in his final moments… at least it was a good dream. 

"I told you, I'm not the angel of death," spoke the illusion and she kissed him. Kissed him like she loved him more than anything in the world. The pain slowly slipped away within him. The fire still raged inside him, but the pain was gone, and that in itself was a relief. 

"Love you too…" he murmured and then there was darkness. Comforting, peaceful and warm. He saw flashes of the people he loved, not just Steph. But Jason, Dick, Alfred, Bruce… even Damian who was somehow crying for him. 

Then… the pain stopped. Or at least subsided. He felt bright daylight shift behind his eyes and slowly, painfully, opened them to see what world awaited him… it was not what he expected the after life to look like. 

His bedroom ceiling loomed over him… The one in Wayne Manor. There were the little marks on from where he'd put up the constellation map when he'd first moved in. Alfred had been quietly furious at the ruined paint work, but hadn't said anything because he knew how important it was for Tim to feel at home. And he did, he really did! But… but he always thought heaven would look like his old room. When he was just starting out as Robin, and everything was still so bright and cheerful. He got to hang out with his friends at school all day, train with Batman at night, and then return home to his parents, who were still alive and well. 

No… he didn't expect heaven would look like Wayne Manor. That meant he was probably still alive. His whole body ached, which was probably a good sign and a quick test informed him that he could still move his fingers and toes. It hurt like hell, but he managed it. He twisted his sore head to the side to test out his neck, and saw a familiar mess of golden hair… okay maybe he was wrong. Maybe it could be heaven. 

A loud snort erupted from Steph as she slept curled up next to him on the king size bed. What was that Terry Pratchett quote?  _ 'A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores. _ ' They might not be married, but Stephanie was definitely snoring. He looked at her sleeping peacefully and tried to move his hand so as he could just touch her… just make sure she was real. It took a great effort, but he managed to pull himself up onto a sitting position and then heaved his dead arm up to give her a small shake. 

"Nnnnrgh… get back on the holodeck, Jane Austen..." she mumbled gently slapping Tim's hand away. Yep, definitely real.

"Okay Batgirl, you just sleep," he croaked out. His throat felt raw and rough, but at least he  _ could _ speak. 

"Thanks Robin." she murmured, reaching out to pat him blindly on the stomach. He let out a loud huff of pain as she touched him; it hadn't been hard, but his whole body felt like one giant bruise still. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly shifted to a kneeling position, her hands resting on either side of his face. "You're awake!" she gasped. "You're awake and you're  _ alive  _ and -- oh God Tim! You're alive!" She dived in to kiss him. It hurt a bit at first but he returned it with as much passion as he could muster. It was so good to see her again, to feel her close and to know  _ she _ was alive too. He'd lost her before, he couldn't bear to go through any of that again. She pulled back for breath and there were tears running down her face. Her smile was perhaps brighter than he'd ever seen it. 

"I thought I'd lost you," she gulped. "Alfred said you'd wake up but I didn't-- I wasn't--" her hand moved to rest above his chest, where he knew she was seeking a heart beat. He held it there, breathing as carefully and slowly as he could. 

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he reassured her. She nodded again, wiping tears away with the corner of her sleeve. He took in her appearance and felt his heart flip at the sight of her. 

Her hair was still tied in a plait, but it was messy and tangled from being kept too long. Her make-up was smudged and broken up, like she hadn't bothered to remove it since the Gala. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants, and Tim's old Gotham Knights Hoodie without a bra on underneath. There was an armchair positioned next to her bed, one that looked like it had been brought up from the family room. There was a closed textbook rested neatly on it, the page marked with an actual bookmark instead of her usual crumpled receipts. He suspected that one of his brothers or Bruce had come up to find her asleep, and moved her onto the bed instead. 

He looked down at his wrist expecting to see his smartwatch but instead saw the tell tale band-aid from where a drip had only recently been removed. "What happened to us? What time is it, how long have I been out?" he asked, his voice still felt sore from lack of use, but it felt better than before. 

"It was Two Face, he gassed us with the chemicals he was selling. You got hit with the enhancer. It's alright though, Kate dealt with him." Steph explained as she leant across to the other side of the bed and unplugged her phone. The bright screen blared light out at them and causing Tim to flinch on instinct. "And it's just past 10 on Sunday morning. So about 35 hours?" 

Tim gaped at her and tried to move to get out of bed, but Steph grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back down, pinning him in place. She bit her lip apologetically at the wince of pain he gave, but in doing so also proved her point. "You sit still, okay? No look, I  _ promise _ I will explain everything to you later, but you have to rest, okay? I'll get Alfred and tell him you're awake, alright? Don't move,  _ promise _ me, you won't move!" She said fiercely, the concern evident in her voice. 

He gave her a fond sigh. "I promise I won't move, Stephie." Not that he could, now he considered it. He'd been out for nearly two day and he still felt exhausted. Like he could sleep for another three days and be fine with it! 

"Okay good, good." She nodded, looking him over one last time as though terrified if she left him for even a second something might happen to him again. 

"Hey, Stephie?" he asked, reaching a hand out to grab her before she climbed out of the bed. 

She gently took the hand and knelt down beside him, that worried look back in her eyes as she scanned over him. "What is it, Babe?"

"You know I'm in love with you, right?" He smiled at her as she laughed. There were still tears in her eyes, but he knew they were happy ones. He didn't want to think about the ones that must have come before, when he was still lying unconscious on the bed. 

She gave him a light kiss on the lips, in response. Pulling again and gently pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Got a bit of an idea, yeah, Boy Wonder." She kissed him one last time and then rushed out of the room, calling Alfred's name. 

He arrived ten minutes later and gave Tim a full health check followed by a meager breakfast of dry toast and orange juice. Alfred explained how Stephanie had been diligently keeping watch over him the whole time, even though she herself had been hit just as badly. 

"Miss Stephanie is a much more hardy than most give credit for though, and just as stubborn as Master Bruce when it comes to such things." He mused as he took Tim's pulse, "Though perhaps do not relay that information to either party. I know they are on better terms these days, but let us not rock the boat too much, hmmm?"  

The day had passed by rather peacefully, everyone dropping in on him at various intervals to check to see how he was doing. He and Stephanie had both made the front page news from Friday. Though sadly, it was the reports of their young love affair, rather than the major drug deal they'd busted. That credit had gone to Batwoman instead, though he supposed he couldn't really blame the press when she was the one to collar them. There was also a picture going around online of a Batgirl riding a motorbike with Red Hood on the back as he fired at a biker gang. He knew this because it was the first thing Jason had shown him when he came to visit. 

Steph explained the rest of the night to him, about the auction, and the antidotes and how Catwoman was now a Mob Boss. Which Bruce had apparently known about all along, but hadn't thought to tell the rest of the family because he was Bruce, and sharing information wasn't  _ exactly _ his forte. 

It took three weeks until Tim was allowed to go back into the civilian world, though he was still banned from batwork. As far as the public were concerned, he’d spent that time in Hong Kong discussing global business productivity with Cass. Nobody had dared question it, because questioning Cassandra Wayne never proved wise. 

In reality he’d spent the time lounging around the house with Stephanie, relishing in getting to spend time together as a normal couple. Steph spent as much time around the manor as she could, more often than not just sitting with him in the lounge as he did more of Alfred's ridiculous brain teasers (a test of whether he was back to full capacity or not) whilst she did her coursework. Three months later that was exactly where they found themselves. Steph had her feet resting in his lap whilst she worked on her laptop, her lip stuck between her teeth as she did so. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and she was wearing the same casual messy outfit from before. No make-up, just chipped purple nail polish and a black pen mark across her cheek that she didn't know was there. She looked beautiful. 

And he realised there was no way he was ever going to be getting that hoodie back. 

"What do you want, Boy Bother?" she asked, still not looking up from her laptop. 

"I was just wondering if you ever submitted those applications in the end?" 

Steph stopped her typing, and seemed to shrink behind her laptop. "Not yet…" she murmured. "I'm-- I'm still working on them." 

"Deadlines are next week though, right?" 

"Yeah…" she hummed a little distantly, before taking a deep sigh and closing her laptop screen. "Tim, I'm sorry, you were right I can't--" 

"Do want me to read them over before you send them off? I'm more likely to know what they're after than Barbara." He gestured his hands out to the laptop. She looked a little surprised by him and seemed to clutch it closer to her. 

"Tim, it's okay. You don't have to be like that. I've decided I'm just going to stay in Gotham and finish up the year like normal without the internship. It's not that big of a--"

"Stephie," he said, very seriously, "I want you to take the year. You were right, you need to get away from Gotham for a bit. We  _ both _ do. The internship is going to be the best way for you to do that, especially if you get the one at Queen Consolidated, since it's paid." 

"But what about  _ us _ ?" She asked a little helplessly. "Tim, after all that happened… I don't want to lose you! I don't want this all to end just because of some stupid internship!" 

"It doesn't have to be the end of us, Steph." he smiled, reaching out to grab her hand. "Plus, it's not like I'm going to be living in Gotham much next year anyway." He grinned mischievously. 

Steph squinted at him. "You're not going to go running off to San Francisco again, are you? Or on one of your global ninja tours because you think you need to save the universe?" 

Tim laughed and shook his head. "No, I thought I would take your advice-- well, Dick's advice too but  _ mostly _ your advice-- and try out the whole College Kid thing." 

Steph's eyebrows raised. "And when did you decide this?" 

He gave a slight shrug. "Couple of days ago. I think you were right Steph, no -- I  _ know _ you were right. I need to get out of this place, I need to get out of my head and try to live a normal life for once. I want to learn what it's like to live elsewhere, so when I come back home, I'll know it's home." 

Steph put her laptop on the floor and crawled over to him. "Did you seriously just quote me right now?" 

"I always remember the great quotes of the wise," he hummed as she straddled his lap. 

"A very wise move itself, Boy Wonderful." she grinned, resting her arms on the back of the sofa as she bore down on him. He moved his hands to her waist, pushing up past her ( _ his _ ) hoodie to feel the warmth of her skin underneath. She let out a huff of air and moved down to kiss him. 

He closed his eyes and let himself just bask in the sensation. Her mouth felt soft, and insistent against his, capturing his top lip with her own. They went slowly, moving against each other and enjoying the sensation of being so close, of the days that stretched out before them now frozen into a single moment. Her tongue gently teased at the seam of his lips, and he eagerly met her with his own. He let her deepen and control the kiss, his hands travelling further down her body, slipping to cup her ass and pull her closer towards him. He gave her a squeeze, and relished in her delighted giggle.

She broke away from him for a moment, tossing her hoodie to the side before going back to kissing him. Her tongue slowly slid against his own, eliciting groans from him. His fingers slid up past her tank top, trailing along her bare back. She felt warm, and real. She hummed into his mouth, and things were really starting to look interesting for them until… of course… 

"Tt, can you two not control your hormones for five minutes?" 

Tim refused to move, though it was safe to say the mood was killed for the time being.

"Fuck off Kiddo, this has nothing to do with you." Steph spoke against Tim's mouth. That stubbornness Alfred has spoken of earlier was showing through. 

"Correction, _ Girl Blunder _ . This is  _ my _ house,  _ not _ yours and so--" 

Tim spied Steph's hand reaching for a cushion and he reached behind his back to pass one to her. She proceeded to throw it at Damian full force, without bothering to look up. The boy let out a huff of insult, his usual tut cutting through the air. It was unclear as to whether his irritation was from being attacked, or from the use of such an ineffectual weapon. 

"Fine then, I shall inform Father that the two of you shall not be attending dinner due to your inclination towards fornication instead." he huffed, turning tail on them. Steph groaned this time out of frustration, flopping off his lap and back onto the sofa. 

"We should go. We'll never hear the end of it if we don't, and I think Bruce will choke on his foie gras if he hears Damian say the word 'fornication.’" She sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Damn, thought for once we'd actually get lucky." She eyed his crotch a little forlornly and Tim laughed, giving her a peck on the cheek. 

"It's like you said Stephie, we got all the time in the world to be together. Now, shall we go eat a really super awkward dinner with my family?" he asked, clambering to his feet and reaching a hand out to her. 

"With you, Boy Wonder? Forever and always." She smiled as she let him pull her up off the sofa before wrapping her hands around his waist and pulling him in for a final kiss. 

Things were never going to be perfect between them. There would always be arguments and mistakes. Missed birthdays and broken ribs. They'd never be the kind of couple to walk through life like it was a Disney Movie. But there'd be love, and happiness. There'd be forgiveness and understanding. Being in love wasn't about being perfect for each other. It wasn't about  _ needing _ someone else to define you. It was about knowing who you were, and knowing that you would always be stronger with someone by your side.

Stephanie and Tim had been many people in their young lives. They had many more identities to discover. But they would discover them together, always hand in hand. Just as it should always be.   

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for all your help and support during the writing of this project! You're all wonderful <3
> 
> Enjoyed this? Let me know via Kudos/Comments or on Tumblr where I'm [Mrsmarymorstan](https://mrsmarymorstan.tumblr.com) =)


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